ml  p 


BR  121  .S53  1922 
Sheldon,  Henry  C.  1845-1928 
The  essentials  of 
Christianity 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

Rev.  HENRY  C.  SHELDON,  d.d. 


THE  ESSENTIALS 
OF  CHRISTIANITY 


BY 

Rev.  HENRY   C.  ^SHELDON,  d.d. 

Author  of  "New  Testament  Theology,"  "Pantheistic  Dilemmas 
and   Other   Essays   in   Philosophy    and    Religion,"   etc. 


NEW  ^y&r  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922, 
BY    GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 


THE    ESSENTIALS    OF    CHRISTIANITY.    I 


PRINTED    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


TO  ALL  YOUNG  PEOPLE 

WHO     HAVE     AN     AMBITION     TO     EXAMINE     THE 

GROUNDS    OF   A    HIGH   APPRECIATION    OF 

CHRISTIANITY,   AND    OF    AN   EARNEST    DEVOTION 

TO    THE    CAUSE    OF    ITS    PROPAGATION    IN    THE    WORLD. 

THIS    VOLUME    IS    AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

This  book  was  designed  for  young  people 
sufficiently  advanced  to  understand,  without 
serious  difficulty,  discussions  in  religion  and 
theology  embodied  in  non-technical  phrase- 
ology. Indeed,  in  its  primary  form  the  trea- 
tise consisted  of  lectures  given  to  successive 
classes  of  college  students.  Recently  these 
have  been  revised  and  enlarged.  It  is  our  hope 
that  intelligent  laymen  generally  will  find  the 
book  well  adjusted  to  their  antecedents  and 
needs. 

The  apologetic  basis  of  the  book  may  appear 
somewhat  novel.  It  is  believed,  however,  that 
it  will  invite  no  unfavorable  judgment,  since 
the  prominence  assigned  to  the  point  of  view 
of  the  comparative  study  of  religions  is  in  line 
with  a  widely-felt  demand  of  our  age. 

The  thanks  of  the  author  are  due  to  the 
Methodist  Book  Concern  for  permission  to 
use  a  number  of  paragraphs  which  in  sub- 
stance or  form  approximate  to  passages  con- 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

tained  in  his  larger  and  very  differently 
planned  work,  designed  more  especially  for 
professional  students  of  theology,  and  en- 
titled "System  of  Christian  Doctrine." 


CONTENTS 

I:  CHRISTIANITY  AS  RELATED  TO  OTHER 
RELIGIONS 

PAGK 

I:    Religion  Defined  and  Shown  to  be  Native 

to   Man         15 

II:     The   Tests   Which   Christianity   Must   Meet 
in    Order   to   Establish    Its   Claim   to   be 

the   Final   Religion 24 

III:  Religions  Which  May  Be  Supposed  to 
Compete  with  Christianity — Their  Merits 
and  Their  Defects 27 

II:  CHRISTIANITY   AS    RELATED    TO   AN 

HISTORICAL  BASIS  AND   TO  WRITTEN 

ORACLES 

I:     The    Need    of   an    Historical    Basis    for   a 

Successful    Religion 51 

II:    The  Largeness  of  the  Historical   Basis  of 

Christianity 54 

III:     The    Rounded    Character    Secured    to    the 
Biblical  Revelation  by  the  Extraordinary 
Completeness   of  its    Historical    Basis     .       64 
IV:     The  Rational  Estimate  of  the  Dependence 

of  Christianity  on  Written  Oracles     .      .       68 

III:  THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS,  THE  CHRIST, 
IN  CHRISTIANITY 

I:     The    Realization    of    the    Moral    Ideal    in 

Christ 79 

II:     Christ  as  Teacher  or  Revealer     ....       93 
III:     The  Work  of  Christ  as  Redeemer     .      .      .     102 

IV:     The  Lordship  of  Christ 11-' 

V:    Supplementary    Topics— The    Supernatural 
Conception     and     the     Resurrection     of 

Christ 11(i 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

IV:  THE  CHRISTIAN  TEACHING  RESPECT- 
ING GOD 

PAGE 

I:    A  Word  on  the  Proofs  of  the  Divine  Ex- 
istence      126 

II:    Elements  of  the  Hebrew  Conception  of  God 

Reproduced   in   Christianity       ....     131 
III:    The  Christian  Thought  of  God  as  Father    142 
IV:    The  Christian  View  of  Prayer  as   Shaped 
by  the  Recognition  of  the  Fatherhood  of 

God 151 

V:    The   Christian   Belief  in   God's  Benevolent 

Rule  or  Providence 153 

VI:    The  Christian  Conception  of  the  Essential 
Relation     of     Christ     to    the     Heavenly 

Father 156 

VII:    The  Christian  Teaching  on  the  Nature  and 

Office  of  the  Holy  Spirit 161 

VIII:    Completion  of  the  Christian  Conception  of 

God  in  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity     .     .163 

V:  THE  CHRISTIAN  TEACHING  RESPECT- 
ING THE  NATURE  AND  CONDITION 
OF  MAN 

I:    The  Biblical  and  Rational  View  of  Man's 

Origin 169  ' 

II:    Man's  Dual   Nature 175 

III:    Man's  Title  to  Immortality 181 

IV:     The  Moral  Outfit  of  Man 187 

V:     Man's  Gift  of  Freedom 195 

VI:    Man's  Actual  Condition  as  Compared  with 

the  Ideal 200 

VI:  THE  CHRISTIAN  TEACHING  RESPECT- 
ING THE  PERFECTING  OF  THE 
INDIVIDUAL 

I:    Constituents  of  the  Ideal   Set  Before  the 

Individual 206 

II:    Universality  of  the  Call  to  the  Christian 

Ideal 210 


CONTENTS  xi 

.  PAGB 

III:    Conditions  Which  the  Individual  Must  Ful- 
fill in   Starting  Toward   the  Ideal     .     .216 
IV:     The   Divine   Response   and   Cooperation     .     222 
V:    Aids   to    Continued    Progress    Toward   the 

Christian   Ideal 229 

VII:    THE    SOCIAL    IDEAL    OF    CHRISTI- 
ANITY 

I:  New  Testament  Terms  Descriptive  of  the 
Social  Ideal— The  Kingdom  and  the 
Church 236 

II:    The  Relation  of  the  Individual  Christian  to 

the  Church 044 

III:    The    Appropriate    Relation    Between    the 

Church   and   State 246 

IV:  Preeminence  of  the  Ethico-Religious  Char- 
acter of  the  Church  Over  the  Ceremonial 
Aspect 251 

V:    Liberty  of  the  Church  in  Respect  of  Polity  258 

VI:    The  Church  Militant 2G3 

VII:    The  Great  Events  Preparatory  to  the  Era 

of  The  Church  Triumphant      ....  278 

VIII:  THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIAN- 
ITY   AS    RESPECTS   A    RIGHTFUL 
CLAIM  TO  UNIVERSALITY 
AND  FINALITY 

I:    A  Very  Unique  and  Significant  Antecedent    282 
II:     Incomparable  Realization  of  the  Union  of 

the   Ideal  and  the  Historical    ....     285 

III:  Exceptional  Prestige  and  Authority  on  the 
Score  of  the  Transcendent  Personality  of 
the  Founder 287 

IV:     Inclusion   of   Every   Prominent    Excellence 

Discoverable  in  the  Ethnic  Systems  .     .     289 

V:     Inculcation  of  the  True  Ideal  on  the  Rela- 
tion  Between  Morality  and   Religion      .     204 

VI:  The  Upholding  of  a  Lofty  Ideal  of  Spirit- 
ual Sonship 2*^ 


xii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

VII:  The  Making  Room  for  Normal  Emphasis 
on  Service  to  the  Present  Age  Alongside 
of    Serious    Regard    for    the    World    to 

Come 299 

VIII:     The  Granting  of  a  Large  Range  for  Con- 
tinuous Progress 302 

IX:  The  Ability  to  Meet  in  all  Essential  Re- 
spects the  Demands  of  the  Philosophical 
Ideal  of   Religion 304 

INDEX 311 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF 
CHRISTIANITY 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF 
CHRISTIANITY 


CHAPTER    I:      CHRISTIANITY    AS 
RELATED  TO  OTHER  RELIGIONS 

/:     Religion  Defined  and  Shown  to  Be  Native  to 

Man 

Defined  as  to  its  subjective  aspect,  Religion 
is  belief  in  a  Higher  Power,  a  sense  of  depen- 
dence upon  such  a  Power  and  an  inward  atti- 
tude toward  it  of  homage  or  worship.  Re- 
garded objectively,  religion  consists  in  actions, 
customs,  and  institutions  which  give  manifes- 
tation to  the  belief  in  the  Higher  Power,  to 
the  sense  of  dependence,  and  to  the  attitude  of 
worship.  The  two  aspects  united  give  the 
rounded  view  of  what  is  meant  by  religion. 

A  substitute  for  such  a  definition  as  the  fore- 
going has  recently  had  some  currency.  Pro- 
ceeding from  a  very  specific  standpoint  certain 
writers  prefer  to  define  religion  as  simply  the 
recognition  and  pursuit  of  social  values.    In  so 

15 


16      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

doing  they  undoubtedly  give  expression  to  no 
mean  element  of  truth ;  at  least,  if  the  Higher 
Power  is  construed  as  the  effective  head  and 
center  of  social  relations.  In  its  terms,  how- 
ever, the  given  definition  does  not  necessarily 
include  that  range  of  meaning.  It  is,  there- 
fore, too  vague,  not  to  say  too  narrow,  to  ade- 
quately set  forth  the  idea  which  men  almost 
universally  have  expressed  under  the  name  of 
religion. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  religion  is  the 
common  property  of  the  race.  Man  is  consti- 
tutionally a  religious  being.  One  and  another 
so-called  religious  function  may  indeed  be 
scarcely  more  than  an  external  attachment  in 
the  case  of  this  or  that  individual.  But  reli- 
gion in  general  is  no  external  attachment,  no 
artificial  adjunct  to  the  life  of  mankind.  It 
has  a  deep  and  permanent  spring  in  the  fun- 
damental characteristics  and  relations  of  men. 
Back  of  all  the  artificial  and  arbitrary  features 
which  may  be  pointed  out  in  various  systems 
of  religion  we  are  obliged  to  affirm  a  native 
religiousness. 

Christianity,  then,  has  this  in  common  with 
other  religions,  that  it  is  a  manifestation  of 
man's  native  bent  to  religion.  Whatever  su- 
periority it  may  rightfully  claim,  it  is  far  from 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  17 

requiring  utter  disparagement  of  other  reli- 
gions. The  devoted  disciple  of  Christianity  is 
free  to  recognize  in  all  religions,  even  in  the 
lowest  and  poorest,  an  element  of  worth.  To 
a  greater  or  less  extent  they  publish  man's 
upward  striving  and  his  inalienable  sense  of 
connection  with  higher  powers.  They  are  not 
mere  falsities,  not  mere  eccentricities,  not  mere 
products  of  fraud  and  caprice.  A  profound 
sentiment,  and  one  prophetic  of  a  high  destiny 
for  man,  is  discoverable  through  all  the  net- 
work of  their  prescriptions  and  practices,  crude 
and  grotesque  as  these  may  have  been  in  many 
instances. 

That  religion  is  no  chance  product  in  the 
world,  but  has  rather  a  perennial  source  in  the 
depths  of  human  nature  itself,  is  a  legitimate 
induction  from  the  record  of  history.  It  is  at- 
tested, in  the  first  place,  by  the  enormous  bulk 
of  religious  facts  and  by  the  high  proportion 
which  these  bear  to  the  known  works  and  ex- 
periences of  the  race.  One  can  hardly  place 
his  hand  upon  history  anywhere  without  com- 
ing into  contact  with  memorials  of  religion. 
They  abound  in  the  literature  of  the  world. 
They  are  found  in  the  earliest  poetry  of  the 
Orient  as  well  as  in  the  latest  of  the  Occident. 
They  claim  a  large  place  in  the  achievements 


18     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  the  sculpture  and  architecture  of  every  age. 
The  spade  of  the  archaeologist  uncovers  them 
wherever  it  brings  to  light  any  vestiges  of 
buried  civilizations.  Philology  finds  them  im- 
bedded in  the  languages  of  the  world  as  far 
back  as  it  can  trace  human  speech  toward  its 
primitive  source.  In  short,  the  further  inves- 
tigation is  pushed  the  more  vivid  becomes  the 
impression  of  the  force  with  which  religion 
has  wrought  as  a  motive  power  among  men. 
An  eminent  writer  speaks  soberly  when  he 
says:  "It  is  the  largest  and  most  ubiquitous 
fact  connected  with  the  existence  of  mankind 
upon  earth."  * 

The  truth  that  religion  is  rooted  in  man's 
nature  is  attested  not  merely  by  the  bulk  of 
religious  facts  that  have  been  brought  to  view, 
but  also  by  lack  of  a  single  authentic  specimen 
of  a  tribe  wholly  destitute  of  religion.  It  is  not 
a  little  suggestive  that  no  one  would  think  of 
looking  for  such  a  tribe  except  among  men 
most  deeply  debased.  Evidently  a  group  of 
men  thus  conditioned,  even  if  they  should  be 
found  entirely  destitute  of  religion,  would  af- 
ford no  valid  proof  against  the  conclusion  that 
human  nature  provides  for  religion.  As  point- 
ing to  a  standing  below  the  plane  of  true  man- 

»John  Flske,  "Through  Nature  to  God,"  p.  189. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  19 

hood,  the  religious  deficit  in  them  would  no 
more  illustrate  what  is  characteristic  of  man, 
than  does  the  social  deficit  in  men  who  flee 
from  society  and  seek  absolute  isolation  from 
all  their  fellows.  But  it  is  not  necessary  to  em- 
phasize this  point.  The  tribe  without  religion 
has  not  been  found.  Supposed  examples  have 
failed  to  endure  close  scrutiny.  It  has  been  dis- 
covered that  the  religion  of  the  savage  has  been 
disguised  by  the  poverty  and  strangeness  of 
his  dialect,  or  hidden  by  his  suspicion  and  reti- 
cence. As  has  been  remarked  by  a  very  pains- 
taking investigator  of  the  subject,  "Even  with 
much  time,  and  care,  and  knowledge  of  lan- 
guage, it  is  not  always  easy  to  elicit  from  sav- 
ages the  details  of  their  theology.  They  try  to 
hide  from  the  prying  and  contemptuous  for- 
eigner their  worship  of  gods  who  seem  to 
shrink,  like  their  worshipers,  before  the  white 
man  and  his  mightier  Deity."  2  That  religion 
was  born  with  man  and  has  been  the  constant 
possession  of  mankind  seems  to  be  the  common 
verdict  of  the  great  majority  of  eminent  stu- 
dents of  religious  history  and  racial  peculiari- 
ties. Max  Miiller,  Tylor,  Ratzel,  Quatrefages, 
Tiele,  Waitz,  Gerland,  Peschel,  and  Roskoff 
represent  the  most  competent  scholarship  of 

2E.  B.  Tylor,  "Primitive  Culture,"  I,  382. 


20      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTDVNITY 

recent  times  in  their  expression  of  the  convic- 
tion that  no  races  of  men  can  be  named  which 
are  wholly  destitute  of  religion.3 

The  fact  that  religion  is  founded  in  human 
nature  may  be  regarded,  once  more,  as  evi- 
denced by  the  poor  success  of  various  attempts 
to  explain  religious  phenomena  on  any  other 
basis.  One  of  the  most  superficial  of  these 
is  that  which  refers  all  to  priestcraft.  Doubtless 
many  things  in  the  various  religions  of  the 
world  have  been  due  to  the  devices  of  priests. 
But  what  has  gained  currency  for  their  de- 
vices? Evidently  if  they  had  not  had  religious 
people  to  deal  with  they  could  not  have  effec- 
tually controlled  their  subjects  in  the  name  of 
religion.  To  suppose  a  group  of  men  to  be 
able  to  fasten  upon  the  mass  of  their  fellows, 
age  after  age,  something  purely  arbitrary,  or 
without  correspondence  to  inborn  needs,  is  to 
suppose  the  incredible.  The  power  of  priest- 
hoods, as  a  factor  within  the  circle  of  religious 
beliefs  and  practices,  may  have  been  great; 
nevertheless,  it  is  obvious  to  a  judicial  mind 
that  religion  as  an  interior  bent  of  men  has 
been  the  greater  power,  which  explains  the 
existence  of  priesthoods,  as  well  as  the  appear- 

3  Compare  F.  B.  Jevons,  "Introduction  to  the  History  of  Re- 
ligion" ;  G.  T.  Ladd,  "The  Philosophy  of  Religion"  ;  C.  H.  Toy, 
"Introduction  to  the  History  of  Religions." 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  21 

ance  of  various  factors  and  features  of  reli- 
gious systems. 

A  similar  line  of  remark  applies  to  the  sup- 
position that  fear,  viewed  as  a  non-religious 
feeling,  drove  men  into  religion;  that  being 
baffled  and  bruised  by  the  forces  of  nature, 
they  had  recourse  to  imaginary  safeguards. 
A  formula  for  this  theory  was  given  by  the 
Roman  writer  Statius  in  the  words  Primus  in 
orbe  timor  deos  fecit.  Now  it  is  to  be  con- 
ceded that  fear  did  work  as  an  incentive  and 
was  influential  in  determining  some  points  of 
religious  practice.  But,  after  all,  it  was  only 
the  partial  and  subordinate  cause.  Fear  of 
natural  evils  has  in  itself  no  power  to  disclose 
the  supernatural  or  divine  and  to  impart  a 
vital  sense  of  relationship  thereto.  Supposing 
an  already  existing  bent  to  recognize  a  higher 
power,  then  we  can  see  that  fear  may  increase 
the  urgency  of  appeals  in  that  direction;  but 
we  do  not  see  that  fear  can  create  the  sense  of 
the  presence  and  agency  of  such  a  power. 
Moreover,  fear  working  by  itself  would  make 
the  content  of  religion  to  consist  solely  of 
means  of  shelter  against  unfriendly  and  ma- 
lignant powers.  But  religion  has  always  had  a 
different  content  from  that.  It  has  given  place 
to  friendly  powers  and  to  the  thought  of  sat- 


22      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

isf action  in  fellowship  with  them.  If  we  may- 
trust  the  verdict  of  prominent  investigators, 
this  was  the  case  with  religion  from  the  start; 
for  they  conclude  that  primitive  sacrifices  were 
not  so  much  rites  of  expiation  as  rites  of  fel- 
lowship with  the  object  of  worship. 

Other  non-religious  causes,  which  have  been 
appealed  to  as  explaining  the  rise  of  religion, 
must  in  all  sobriety  be  pronounced  equally  in- 
adequate. Take  for  instance  the  lively  im- 
pression of  natural  objects.  Undoubtedly  it 
has  had  much  to  do  in  determining  the  spe- 
cific direction  of  the  religious  bent.  Very 
likely  in  all  the  advanced  stages  of  culture 
it  has  been  a  potent  force  in  shaping  reli- 
gious manifestations.  But  it  is  equally  true 
that  natural  objects  would  never  have  become 
religious  objects,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
working  of  religious  needs  and  impulses. 
Only  the  powerful  stimulus  coming  from 
this  source  could  create  and  sustain  the  dis- 
position to  translate  the  objects  of  sense  into 
symbols  and  vehicles  of  the  transcendent  or 
divine. 

Take,  again,  the  experience  of  dreams  and 
apparitions.  It  is  not  at  all  incredible  that 
events  of  this  kind  have  furnished  men  with 
objects  of  religious  contemplation,  as  tending 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  23 

to  foster  belief  in  spirits,  whether  ancestral  or 
non-human.  This  species  of  belief,  however, 
would  never  have  furnished  the  basis  for  a  per- 
sistent conviction  of  vital  connection  with  and 
obligation  toward  intangible  powers,  but  for 
needs  and  tendencies  deeply  imbedded  in  the 
nature  of  men.  It  is  important  to  note  that 
the  particular  direction  of  a  current  is  one 
thing,  while  the  perennial  source  of  the  current 
is  quite  another  thing.  Many  causes  may  have 
shaped  the  manifestation  of  religion.  The 
potent  cause  urging  to  manifestation  so  uni- 
versally and  persistently  cannot  be  regarded 
as  anything  less  than  the  intrinsic  needs  and 
tendencies  of  the  human  spirit. 

What  has  been  said  thus  far  simply  invites 
to  an  attitude  of  appreciative  consideration  of 
all  religions.  If  it  involves  nothing  in  favor  of 
the  special  claims  of  Christianity,  it  certainly 
involves  nothing  adverse  to  those  claims.  The 
fact  that  man  is  so  fundamentally  a  religious 
being  that,  generally  speaking,  his  nature  im- 
pels under  all  conditions  to  some  form  of  reli- 
gious faith  and  practice,  is  just  the  kind  of 
basis  that  Christianity  requires  to  justify  its 
anticipation  of  world-wide  victory.  Constitu- 
tional indifference  to  religion  might  be  a  fatal 
barrier  to  progress ;  with  the  opposition  of  men 


24      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

who,  in  the  long  run,  cannot  get  along  without 
a  religion,  it  may  hope  to  wrestle  successfully. 
The  ineradicable  longing  for  religious  satis- 
faction, under  such  conditions  of  the  world  as 
provide  for  the  free  contact  of  one  religion  with 
another,  may  be  expected  to  bring  men — or 
at  least  the  greater  portion  of  them — ultimately 
to  the  religion  which  most  adequately  meets  the 
longing,  and  is  most  able  to  meet  it  under 
advanced  stages  of  culture. 


//:     The  Tests  which  Christianity  Must  Meet  in 

Order  to  Establish  Its  Claim  to  Universality 

and  Finality 

If  the  Christian  religion  is  to  be  made  to 
appear  not  simply  as  a  religion  among  reli- 
gions, but  as  the  religion  fitted  to  become  uni- 
versal and  ultimate,  grounds  for  a  rational 
faith  in  the  following  propositions  need  to  be 
afforded:  (1)  Man,  as  being  constitutionally 
a  religious  being,  must  in  the  long  run  have  a 
religion.  (2)  Christianity  is  distinctly  su- 
perior to  any  other  historic  religion.  (3)  The 
essential  truths  and  spirit  of  Christianity  are 
so  high  and  perfect  that  there  is  no  real  occa- 
sion to  harbor  the  thought  of  their  being  im- 
proved upon. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  25 

To  rest  the  case  of  Christianity  upon  the 
establishment  of  these  three  propositions  is  not 
merely  the  dictate  of  convenience  but  of  right 
reason  as  well.  What  need  is  there  to  prove 
anything  more?  If  men  must  have  a  religion, 
if  Christianity  meets  the  religious  needs  of 
humanity  better  than  any  other  historic  sys- 
tem, and  is  moreover  so  high  and  perfect  in  its 
characteristic  truths  and  spirit  that  no  chance 
for  surpassing  them  is  to  be  recognized,  then 
unmistakably  its  claim  to  universality  and 
finality  is  solidly  based.  Further  proofs  can  be 
waived  as  unnecessary.  There  is  no  impera- 
tive demand,  for  example,  to  establish  a  de- 
tailed perfection  of  the  Bible.  It  is  enough  to 
know  that  the  Bible  excels  every  other  com- 
pendium of  sacred  writings,  and  records  a 
revelation  which  supplies  in  its  aggregate  re- 
sult a  standard  too  pure  and  lofty  to  be  tran- 
scended. No  more  is  it  requisite  to  show  that 
the  history  of  so-called  Christian  peoples  has 
been  free  from  great  evils  and  abuses.  It  is  to 
be  remembered  that  a  people  truly  Christian 
in  anything  like  its  whole  extent  has  never  yet 
been  seen  on  the  face  of  the  earth;  that  Chris- 
tianity has  had  to  contend  against  the  force  of 
human  selfishness,  passion,  and  appetite,  and 
therefore  has  been  only  imperfectly  exempli- 


26     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

fied  in  the  history  of  any  nation.  Impossibili- 
ties are  not  to  be  asked  of  any  religion.  The 
best  religion  conceivable  cannot  be  required  to 
banish  in  short  order  all  evil  from  human  so- 
ciety, made  up  as  that  society  is  of  wayward 
free  agents.  What  can  reasonably  be  asked 
of  it  is,  that  it  should  meet  the  evil  with  un- 
compromising opposition,  have  an  inexhaus- 
tible power  to  vitalize  the  consciences  of  its 
votaries,  and  thus  be  able  to  work  progressively 
toward  the  reign  of  practical  righteousness  in 
all  the  relations  of  men. 

Of  the  three  propositions  mentioned  as  need- 
ing to  be  established  the  first  has  been  con- 
firmed by  evidences  which,  we  judge,  the 
thoughtful  reader  will  pronounce  satisfactory. 
To  the  establishment  of  the  second  and  third 
propositions  the  entire  line  of  thought  in  this 
treatise  will  be  tributary.  That  task  there- 
fore will  not  be  formally  undertaken  in  this 
connection.  It  will  be  advisable,  however,  be- 
fore proceeding  further,  to  furnish  a  basis  for 
a  comparison  of  Christianity  with  the  non- 
Christian  religions  by  giving  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  main  characteristics  of  the  latter.  Thus  we 
shall  be  in  condition,  as  the  essential  content  of 
Christianity  is  unfolded  in  successive  chapters, 
to  see  the  justification  of  the  second  proposi- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  27 

tion,  and  also  be  ready  with  better  intelligence 
to  turn  our  thought  to  the  concluding  propo- 
sition. Direct  attention  will  be  given  to  these 
subjects  in  the  concluding  chapter. 


///:     Religions  which  May  Be  Supposed  to  Com- 
pete with  Christianity — Their  Merits  and 
Their  Defects 

As  regards  religions  which  have  perished 
from  the  world  it  would  be  a  superfluous  task 
to  compare  Christianity  with  them.  Their  in- 
ability to  maintain  themselves  is  an  indication 
of  unfitness  for  permanent  subsistence,  and 
must  stand  against  them  till  a  resurrection  to 
vitality  and  efficiency  has  been  achieved.  Ap- 
proximately the  same  may  be  said  of  a  religion 
which  has  descended  from  its  ancient  eminence, 
and  been  left  for  a  long  period  with  a  meager 
band  of  followers.  This  description  applies 
to  the  Zoroastrian  religion,  which  retains  but 
a  handful  of  adherents  in  its  ancient  Persian 
home  and  is  mainly  represented  by  the  Parsis 
of  India,  numbering  probably  less  than  one 
hundred  thousand. 

Corresponding  to  the  contrast  between  the 
snow-capped  mountains  and  the  sand-wastes 
of  the  land  which  served  as  its  early  theater, 


28      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Zoroastrianism  was  a  religion  largely  domi- 
nated by  a  sense  of  antagonisms.  In  truth  it 
incorporated  a  dualistic  feature  in  placing  both 
good  and  evil  back  of  the  world  and  represent- 
ing them  as  partners  in  its  formation.  This 
point  of  view,  as  enforcing  the  need  of  continu- 
ous struggle  in  order  to  bring  victory  to  the 
side  of  the  powers  of  light  and  goodness,  as  op- 
posed to  those  of  darkness  and  malignity,  gave 
a  certain  cast  of  earnestness  to  the  old  Persian 
religion.  It  must  be  affirmed,  however,  that 
the  dualism  incorporated  with  this  religion  is 
not  adapted  permanently  to  satisfy  either 
thought  or  feeling.  To  divide  the  creative 
efficiency  back  of  the  world  into  antagonistic 
portions  offends  against  the  philosophical  de- 
mand for  unity,  and  stands  in  the  way  of  a 
serene  faith  in  providence.  The  biblical  pic- 
ture of  a  good  God  making  a  good  world,  into 
which  moral  evil  comes  only  by  creaturely 
lapse,  is  not  only  more  cheerful  than  the  dual- 
istic representation ;  it  affords  also  a  decidedly 
more  consistent  basis  for  moral  effort  and  re- 
ligious faith.  Evil  gets  too  much  dignity  when 
it  is  made  to  share  the  throne  of  the  world.  No 
doubt  Zoroastrianism  makes  a  certain  amend 
for  its  dualistic  representation  of  the  begin- 
ning of  things,  in  that  it  pictures  the  final  tri- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  29 

umph  of  the  good  deity.  But  this  outcome 
is  rather  dictated  by  a  brave  hope  than  by  a 
logical  induction.  If  evil  coexisted  with  the 
good  in  the  beginning,  it  is  not  easy  to  provide 
a  well-founded  hope  for  its  ultimate  displace- 
ment. Other  defects  in  Zoroastrianism  might 
be  specified,  the  most  noticeable  perhaps  being 
the  extent  to  which  it  fenced  around  the  lives 
of  men  with  arbitrary  rules  in  its  extravagant 
effort  to  guard  the  sanctity  of  the  pure  ele- 
ments, fire,  water,  and  earth. 

Of  living  religions  not  more  than  four  have 
a  position  and  content  which  makes  it  worth 
while  to  compare  them  with  Christianity. 
These  are  Confucianism,  Buddhism,  Hindu- 
ism, and  Mohammedanism.  That  there  are 
elements  of  worth  in  each  of  these  religions  will 
not  be  denied  by  any  fair-minded  investigator. 

If  we  turn  to  the  first  named,  we  find  very 
commendable  features,  especially  on  the  side 
of  its  ethical  code.  Such  virtues  as  reverence, 
moderation,  sincerity,  and  gentleness  are  wor- 
thily inculcated.  The  following  are  charac- 
teristic maxims:  "It  is  virtue  that  moves 
heaven:  there  is  no  distance  to  which  it  does 
not  reach.    Pride  brings  loss  and  humility  re- 


30     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ceives  increase." 4  "Do  not  cherish  anger 
against  the  obstinate  and  dislike  them.  Seek 
not  every  quality  in  one  individual.  You  must 
have  patience,  and  you  will  be  successful; 
have  forbearance  and  your  virtue  will  be 
great."  5  "Always  and  in  every  thing  there 
should  be  reverence.  Pride  should  not  be  in- 
dulged; the  will  should  not  be  gratified  to  the 
full;  pleasure  should  not  be  carried  to  excess. 
.  .  .  Do  not  seek  for  victory  in  small  conten- 
tions; do  not  seek  for  more  than  your  share."  6 
With  its  many  excellencies  the  Confucian 
ethics  combines  some  features  which  invite 
criticism,  at  least  from  the  viewpoint  of  Chris- 
tianity. There  is  some  reason,  for  instance,  to 
charge  it  with  overdoing  the  very  necessary 
stress  upon  the  obligation  of  children  to  par- 
ents. Unquestionably  this  is  a  high  and  holy 
obligation,  but  in  centering  the  emphasis  upon 
it  a  certain  hazard  is  incurred  of  making  too 
little  account  of  those  great  obligations  of  the 
individual  soul  to  itself  and  to  God  which  may 
perchance  come  into  competition  with  parental 
wishes  and  ancestral  models.  Again,  Confu- 
cianism shares  a  very  common  fault  of  the  an- 
tique world  in  its  relative  disparagement  of 

*  The  Shu-King,  Part  ii,  book  ii  §  3. 
•The  Shu-King,  Part  v,  book  xxi,   §  3. 
•The  Li-ki,  Book  i,  sect,  i,  part  i. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  31 

women.  Under  its  regime  woman  attains  in- 
deed to  high  honor  as  the  mother  of  sons,  but 
not  in  other  relations.  Her  dignity  suffers 
very  appreciable  abridgment  from  the  pre- 
rogative of  husbands  in  the  matter  of  divorce 
and  of  concubinage.  It  may  be  noticed  also 
that  Confucius  stood  in  contrast  with  the 
founder  of  Christianity  in  discrediting  the  ob- 
ligation to  exercise  good- will  and  love  to  ward's 
one's  enemies.  At  this  point  he  fell  below  the 
plane  of  his  contemporary  Lao-tse. 

The  great  weakness  of  Confucianism  lies 
in  its  lack  of  any  adequate  and  vitalizing  con- 
ception of  God.  In  the  writings  of  the  sage 
himself  the  Supreme  Being,  recognized  in  early 
Chinese  thinking  under  the  vague  title  of 
"Heaven,"  appears  only  as  an  indistinct  ob- 
ject of  belief.  Some  expositors  have  even 
questioned  whether  in  the  use  of  Confucius 
the  title  stood  for  a  personal  subject.  Prob- 
ably, however,  there  was  no  positive  intention 
to  deny  personality.  But  still  the  thought  of 
God  was  left  in  great  indefiniteness.  Nor  has 
Confucianism  in  its  subsequent  history  tran- 
scended this  relatively  empty  and  powerless 
notion  of  Deity.  To  the  mass  of  its  adherents 
the  Supreme  Being  is  the  far-off  God,  a  being 
respected  in  certain  rites  periodically  celebrated 


32     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

by  the  emperor  or  highest  exponent  of  the 
state,  but  not  an  object  of  universal  and  custo- 
mary worship.  It  is  to  spirits,  whether  ances- 
tral or  non-human,  that  Confucianists  in  gen- 
eral are  expected  to  pay  most  of  the  homage 
which  they  have  to  offer.  The  energizing  mo- 
tive which  comes  from  a  vital  apprehension  of 
the  living  God  is  not  native  to  Confucianism. 
Its  own  votaries  have  in  fact,  to  a  conspicuous 
degree,  furnished  a  practical  acknowledgment 
of  its  deficit  on  the  religious  side,  in  that  they 
have  sought  satisfaction  for  their  religious 
needs  by  borrowing  from  Buddhism  or  Taoism. 

Buddhism,  not  less  than  Confucianism,  earns 
appreciation  on  the  score  of  golden  maxims  in 
its  ethical  teaching.  The  former  indeed  ap- 
peals more  cogently  than  the  latter  to  the 
hearts  of  men  through  the  element  of  sym- 
pathy and  humanitarianism  with  which,  in  its 
original  form  at  least,  it  was  richly  endowed. 
Gautama,  the  Buddha,  or  "enlightened  one," 
was  in  temper  a  kind  of  Saint  Francis,  living 
in  the  sixth  century  before  the  Christian  era 
(560-480).  He  did  not,  it  is  true,  partake  of 
the  mystical  devotion  so  deeply  characteristic 
of  the  Italian  philanthropist;  but  his  heart 
overflowed  with  the  same  loving  compassion. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  33 

Profoundly  impressed  with  the  miseries  of 
human  existence,  he  sought  out  for  himself  the 
way  of  escape,  and  then  made  it  his  life  work 
to  enlighten  his  fellow  men  respecting  this 
way.  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  his  total 
conception  of  salvation,  it  must  be  granted 
that  his  teaching  embraced  elements  of  very 
considerable  worth.  He  ran  clear  of  the  ex- 
aggerated ceremonialism  and  sacerdotalism 
with  which  India  had  begun  to  be  burdened. 
He  emphasized  the  responsibility  of  the  indi- 
vidual for  effecting  his  own  emancipation.  He 
strongly  enforced  the  demand  for  self-control 
and  self-discipline.  He  fostered  the  spirit  of 
tolerance  and  taught  the  duty  of  universal 
benevolence  and  gentleness.  This  duty  could 
hardly  be  put  more  strongly  than  it  is  in  vari- 
ous Buddhist  texts.  Of  the  one  who  is  in  the 
true  way  it  is  affirmed,  "He  lets  his  mind  per- 
vade one  quarter  of  the  world  with  thoughts 
of  pity,  sympathy,  and  equanimity,  and  so  the 
second,  and  so  the  third,  and  so  the  fourth. 
And  thus  the  whole  wide  world  above,  below, 
around,  and  everywhere,  does  he  continue  to 
pervade  with  heart  of  pity,  sympathy,  and 
equanimity,  far-reaching,  grown  great,  and 
beyond  measure."  7     A  still  more  intense  ex- 

T  Tevigga  Sutta,   chap.   iii. 


34      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

pression  of  the  obligation  of  universal  good- 
will appears  in  the  following:  "As  a  mother 
at  the  risk  of  her  life  watches  over  her  own 
child,  her  only  child,  so  also  let  everyone  culti- 
vate a  boundless  friendly  mind  towards  all  be- 
ings." 8 

On  the  other  hand,  Buddhism  viewed  as  a 
religious  system  exhibits  very  pronounced  de- 
fects. In  the  first  place,  as  originally  promul- 
gated, it  fell  far  short  of  doing  justice  to  the 
thought  of  God.  Though  it  may  have  men- 
tioned supernatural  beings,  it  postulated  for 
them  no  practical  relation  to  men.  They  ap- 
pear as  of  no  more  account  than  the  celestial 
ghosts  to  which  Epicureanism  gave  a  verbal 
acknowledgment.  No  creative  function  was 
assigned  to  them,  they  were  included  in  the 
sphere  of  the  changeable,  and  in  occasional 
texts  were  unfavorably  compared  with  the 
man  who  has  attained  the  stage  of  enlighten- 
ment. But  so  great  a  stretch  of  negation  could 
not  long  survive.  Buddhists,  no  more  than 
other  men,  were  able  permanently  to  quench 
the  sense  of  dependence  and  the  impulse  to 
worship.  The  historic  Buddha  himself  was 
turned  into  a  veritable  god,  and  functions  co- 
extensive with  the  universe  were  assigned  to 

8  The  Sutta-Nipata.  Mettasutta. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  35 

him.  Potential  or  prospective  Buddhas  in  the 
heavenly  sphere  were  recognized  as  possessed 
of  divine  rank.  This  development  in  Buddhist 
belief  was  especially  characteristic  of  the  Ma- 
hayana  teaching,  which  had  much  currency  in 
India  by  the  close  of  the  first  Christian  cen- 
tury, and  gave  the  type  very  largely  to  north- 
ern Buddhism. 

In  the  second  place,  Buddhism  is  subject  to 
criticism  as  providing  an  imperfect  ground  for 
the  consciousness  of  sin.  Its  stress  is  upon 
pain  rather  than  upon  sin  proper.  The  prob- 
lem with  which  it  deals  is  not  so  much,  how  to 
eliminate  moral  contamination,  as  how  to  get 
release  from  suffering,  how  to  escape  from  the 
weary  round  of  transmigrations  and  the  entail 
of  misery  which  passes  over  from  one  incar- 
nation to  another  and  threatens  to  be  per- 
petual. Detachment  from  the  ever-whirling 
wheel  of  changeful  being  and  entrance  into  rest 
is  the  consummation  on  which  it  lays  the  maxi- 
mum stress.  That  it  should  fail  of  a  propor- 
tionate emphasis  on  the  demerit  of  sin  was  in 
a  way  dictated  by  the  scanty  deference  which 
it  paid  at  the  start  to  the  thought  of  God.  A 
vital  recognition  of  the  holy  and  all-seeing 
One,  who  cannot  look  upon  sin  with  allowance, 


36     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

is  a  logical  antecedent  of  a  proper  impression 
of  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin. 

Again,  Buddhism  is  chargeable  with  a  con- 
spicuous breach  of  consistency.  According  to 
its  theory  there  is  no  abiding  substance,  cease- 
less flux  being  characteristic  of  everything. 
What  is  spoken  of  as  human  personality  is  a 
mere  complex,  subsisting  by  the  juxtaposition 
of  its  constituents,  the  so-called  skandhas.  As 
death  sunders  the  constituents  and  breaks  up 
the  complex,  the  natural  inference  would  be 
that  personal  subsistence  does  not  continue  be- 
yond this  life.  Yet  Buddhism  often  speaks  as 
though  it  were  the  same  subject  which,  failing 
to  quench  desire  in  this  life,  must  be  reincar- 
nated and  bear  in  another  form  the  evil  insep- 
arable from  desire.  A  sort  of  intellectual 
sleight  of  hand  seems  to  be  practiced  at  this 
point.  It  is  as  though  a  candle  in  expiring 
should  ignite  a  second  candle,  and  this  second 
candle  should  then  be  identified  with  the  pre- 
ceding. To  identify  the  subject  of  embodied 
life,  which  is  dissolved  in  death,  with  the  suc- 
ceeding subject  is  quite  arbitrary.  But  if  the 
identity  of  the  two  is  denied,  an  inquiry  evi- 
dently arises  as  to  the  justice  of  loading  on  to 
the  new  subject  the  debt  of  the  old,  and  of  re- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  37- 

quiring  the  former  through  a  life  of  pain  to 
work  off  the  entail. 

Once  more  the  moral  ideal  of  Buddhism  is 
marred  by  undeniable  imperfections.  It  runs 
into  onesidedness  both  in  the  direction  of  as- 
ceticism and  of  quietism.  The  society  founded 
by  Gautama  was  a  monastic  society,  and,  while 
provision  was  made  for  a  lay  wing,  the  impli- 
cation of  the  Buddhistic  teaching  was,  that  to 
reach  the  ideal  character  and  to  gain  a  place 
in  the  rank  of  "wise  men"  belongs  only  to 
monks.  Gautama  himself!  is  credited  with 
placing  these  words  upon  the  lips  of  the 
believer:  "Full  of  hindrances  is  household  life, 
a  path  defiled  by  passion :  free  as  the  air  is  the 
life  of  him  who  has  renounced  all  worldly 
things.  How  difficult  is  it  for  the  man  who 
dwells  at  home  to  live  the  higher  life  in  all  its 
fullness,  in  all  its  purity,  in  all  its  bright  per- 
fection! Let  me  then  cut  off  my  hair  and 
beard,  let  me  clothe  myself  in  the  orange-col- 
ored robes,  and  let  me  go  forth  from  a  house- 
hold life  into  the  homeless  state!"  9 

On  the  side  of  quietism  the  Buddhistic  ideal 
is  decidedly  radical.  It  emphasizes  the  need 
of  a  total  suppression  of  desire  and  aspiration, 
setting  this  forth  indeed  as  the  supreme  obliga- 

8Tevigga  Sutta,    §   47. 


38      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tion  and  achievement.  Only  thus,  it  is  con- 
tended, can  the  bond  to  rebirth  be  broken  and 
the  chain  of  miserable  existence  be  brought  to 
an  end ;  only  thus  can  the  deep  calm,  the  per- 
fect rest  of  nirvana  be  attained.  In  more 
than  one  text  the  reaching  of  the  goal  in  nir- 
vana seems  to  imply  a  veritable  extinction  of 
the  self.  Thus  we  read:  "All  the  Buddhas 
of  the  past  ages,  numerous  as  the  sands  of  the 
Ganges,  by  their  wisdom  enlightening  the 
world,  have  all  gone  out  as  a  lamp.  All  the 
Buddhas  yet  to  come  will  perish  in  the  same 
way."  10  The  sagte,  "after  having  revealed 
perfect  enlightenment  and  led  many  kotis  of 
beings  to  perfect  rest,  himself  will  be  extin- 
guished like  a  lamp  when  the  oil  is  ex- 
hausted." 1X  Statements  like  these  may  assign 
a  more  emphatic  meaning  to  nirvana  than  has 
been  universally,  or  even  in  a  majority  of  in- 
stances, characteristic  of  Buddhistic  thinking, 
especially  in  the  northern  regions.  But  it  is 
undeniable  that  in  its  general  tenor  Buddhism 
has  given  great  prominence  to  the  idea  of  a 
passionless  existence,  a  state  in  which  all  de- 
sire and  effort  are  quenched.  And  herein  it  has 
exposed  itself  to  a  double  criticism.  On  the 
one  hand  the  legitimacy  of  its  assumption  that 

10  Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King,  Kiouen  v,  Varga  24. 

11  Saddharma-Pundarika  xiii,   72. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  39 

the  highest  consummation  lies  in  passivity  or 
quiescence  may  properly  be  challenged.  To 
suppose  a  consummation  of  that  order  to  be 
the  highest  is  to  suppose  emptiness  and  poverty 
of  spirit  to  be  superior  to  fullness  and  wealth. 
Not  in  the  suppression  of  desire  and  activity, 
but  rather  in  their  subordination  to  the  ends 
dictated  by  love  and  righteousness,  the  highest 
blessedness  and  glory  of  the  human  spirit  are 
realized.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Buddhistic 
teaching  is  chargeable  with  a  conspicuous  in- 
consistency. To  suppress  desire  is  to  suppress 
benevolent  interest  in  one's  fellows.  How 
then  can  both  the  suppression  of  the  one  and 
the  exercise  of  the  other  be  obligatory?  In 
the  inculcation  of  the  former  duty  Buddhistic 
teaching  sets  forth  this  precept:  "Let  no  man 
love  anything:  loss  of  the  beloved  is  evil. 
Those  who  love  nothing,  and  hate  nothing, 
have  no  fetters."  12  At  the  same  time,  as  has 
been  observed,  the  Buddhistic  precepts  rela- 
tive to  universal  sympathy  and  benevolence 
are  expressed  in  the  very  strongest  terms. 
Here  is  an  appearance  of  contradiction  which 
no  ordinary  wit  can  overcome.  If  perfect 
apathy  is  permissible  or  essential,  universal 

12  Dhammapada,  xvi. 


40      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

sympathy  and  good- will  seem  logically  to  be 
no  necessary  part  of  the  ideal  for  man. 

Hinduism,  as  the  dominant  religion  of  In- 
dia in  the  present  is  called,  had  its  central  ante- 
cedent in  the  Vedic-Brahmanical  religion. 
With  a  certain  degree  of  propriety  it  might 
be  styled  Neo-Brahmanism.  This  term,  how- 
ever, unless  a  broad  meaning  is  put  into  its 
first  member,  does  not  adequately  indicate  the 
composite  character  of  Hinduism.  By  a 
scheme  of  far-reaching  accommodation  Brah- 
manism  has  provided  a  place  for  almost  every- 
thing that  has  been  accepted  by  the  people  of 
India  in  the  name  of  religion.  "It  has  opened 
its  doors  to  all  comers  on  the  two  conditions 
of  admitting  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  the 
Brahmans  and  conforming  to  certain  caste 
rules  about  food,  intermarriage,  and  profes- 
sional pursuits.  In  this  manner  it  has  adopted 
much  of  the  fetishism  of  the  Negrito  aborigines 
of  India ;  it  has  stooped  to  the  practices  of  the 
various  hill  tribes,  and  has  not  scrupled  to  en- 
courage the  adoration  of  the  fish,  the  boar,  the 
serpent,  rocks,  stones,  and  trees;  it  has  bor- 
rowed ideas  from  the  various  cults  of  the  Dra- 
vidian  races,  and  it  may  even  owe  something  to 
Christianity."  13     Hinduism  has  also  derived 

38  Monier  Williams,   "Hinduism,"  pp.  85,  86. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  41 

not  a  little  from  Buddhism.  The  influence  of 
the  latter  has  been  made  apparent  in  an  ap- 
proximate abolition  of  animal  sacrifices,  in  an 
enlarged  stress  upon  the  notion  of  transmigra- 
tion, and  in  a  tendency  to  award  a  central  place 
in  religion  to  incarnated  and  humanized  divini- 
ties. 

In  the  above  description  of  Hinduism 
grounds  of  criticism  have  already  been  dis- 
closed. Doubtless  in  the  enormous  collection  of 
its  sacred  writings  a  considerable  amount  of 
genuine  treasure  is  discoverable.  The  ele- 
ment of  subtle  speculation  is  largely  exempli- 
fied, and  most  excellent  maxims,  ethical  and 
religious,  appear  in  one  connection  or  another. 
But  even  the  most  charitable  judgment  must 
rate  the  offsetting  features  as  of  very  serious 
consequence. 

It  is  evident,  first  of  all,  that  in  Hinduism 
eclecticism  has  been  carried  well-nigh  to  a  be- 
wildering extreme.  Unity  has  been  mutilated, 
not  to  say  destroyed,  by  the  combination  of  a 
multitude  of  incongruous  factors.  The  ques- 
tion may  be  raised,  in  truth,  whether  Hinduism 
can  properly  be  styled  a  religion;  whether  it 
is  not  rather  to  be  named  a  collection  of  loosely 
conjoined  and  intermingled  religions. 

In  the  second  place,  Hinduism,  in  so  far  as 


42      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

it  is  built  upon  Brahmanism,  rests  upon  a 
pantheistic  basis.  The  Vedanta  philosophy 
was  the  orthodox  philosophy  of  Brahmanism, 
and  that  philosophy  represented  as  radical  a 
form  of  pantheism  as  ever  had  currency,  teach- 
ing that  the  whole  world  of  concrete  being  is  an 
illusion,  that  there  is  only  one  real  self,  namely 
Brahman,  and  that  the  true  destiny  of  what 
we  esteem  to  be  the  individual  soul  is  identi- 
fication with  this  one  self.  In  a  text  of  the 
Upanishads  we  read:  "As  the  flowing  rivers 
disappear  in  the  sea,  losing  their  name  and 
form,  thus  a  wise  man,  freed  from  name  and 
form,  goes  to  the  divine  Person  who  is  greater 
than  the  great.  .  .  .  He  who  knows  that  high- 
est Brahman  becomes  even  Brahman." 14 
Upon  this  pantheistic  basis  Hinduism  rears  the 
superstructure  of  a  bizarre  and  luxuriant  poly- 
theism. To  one,  therefore,  who  is  deeply  con- 
scious of  the  shortcomings  of  both  pantheism 
and  polytheism,  it  offers  very  scanty  claims  to 
credence. 

Again  the  ethical  teaching  of  Hinduism  is  in 
great  need  of  revision  and  pruning.  There 
are  maxims  in  the  old  Brahmanical  writings  in 
which  the  efficacy  of  ceremonies  is  lauded  to 
an  extent  which  is  decidedly  compromising  to 

14  Mundaka-Upanishad. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  43 

ethical  demands.  The  same  writings,  it  is 
true,  contain  some  texts  of  an  opposite  tenor, 
but  the  presence  of  the  latter  does  not  fully 
atone  for  the  misleading  doctrine  incorporated 
with  the  former.  In  later  writings  also,  to 
which  Hinduism  pays  respect,  the  teaching  is 
of  a  mixed  character  in  its  bearing  upon  the 
interests  of  morality.  This  is  especially  true 
of  the  Tantras,  a  class  of  writings  among  the 
least  reputable  in  the  whole  range  of  the  sacred 
literature  of  Hinduism. 

Finally,  Hinduism,  in  conserving  very 
largely  the  Brahmanical  caste  system,  has 
given  its  sanction  to  one  of  the  most  artificial 
and  despotic  schemes  of  social  organization  that 
was  ever  invented.  Proceeding  from  a  mythi- 
cal assumption  of  the  intrinsic  inequalities  of 
men,  fostered  by  overweening  sacerdotal  pride 
and  ambition,  and  raising  barriers  where  na- 
ture never  placed  them,  this  iron-clad  system 
of  division  and  restriction  plainly  lies  quite 
outside  the  possibility  of  rational  justification. 

Mohammedanism  earns  respect  on  several 
grounds.  It  makes  a  very  earnest  protest 
against  all  polytheistic  subdivision  of  the  di- 
vine. It  gives  a  majestic  picture  of  divine 
sovereignty.     It  asserts  very  strongly  man's 


44      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

responsibility  to  God,  and  lays  profound  stress 
on  the  duty  of  unqualified  surrender  to  the  di- 
vine will.  In  at  least  the  earlier  part  of  his 
career  Mohammed  was  undoubtedly  a  sincere 
reformer,  who  believed  that  the  convictions 
burning  in  his  heart  were  from  above. 

On  the  other  hand  there  are  several  grounds 
of  an  unfavorable  estimate  of  Mohammedan- 
ism. In  the  first  place,  it  has  but  slight  claim 
to  originality.  "There  is  nothing  original  in 
the  Koran,"  says  Pfleiderer,  "beyond  the 
statement  of  the  mission  of  Mohammed.,,  15 
This  may  be  putting  the  case  rather  strongly, 
but  it  is  quite  evident  to  the  candid  investigator 
that  Mohammed  drew,  at  second  hand,  a  very 
considerable  portion  of  his  materials  from 
Judaism  and  Christianity,  especially  the  for- 
mer. That  he  did  not  derive  his  information 
directly  from  the  oracles  of  either  is  made  glar- 
ingly apparent  by  misconceptions  and  per- 
versions in  various  passages  of  the  Koran. 

Again  Mohammedanism  is  subject  to  criti- 
cism on  the  score  of  a  one-sided  representation 
of  God.  It  portrays  Him  predominantly  as 
the  all-powerful  sovereign.  No  doubt  there 
are  recurring  references  in  the  Koran  to  the 
mercy  of  God,  and  a  mention  of  His  readiness 

» "Philosophy   of   Religion,"   iii,    179. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  45 

to  forgive  those  who  turn  from  their  evil  ways 
is  not  wanting.  But  the  stereotyped  phrases 
employed  in  these  lines  give  no  vital  impres- 
sion of  a  God  who  is  deeply  concerned  at  heart 
to  reach  and  to  save  the  lost,  and  they  are  offset 
by  a  multitude  of  expressions  which  convey  a 
contrary  suggestion.  What  else  is  it  than  ar- 
bitrary almighty  will  that  is  sketched  in  such 
sentences  as  the  following?  "Verily  those  who 
misbelieve,  it  is  the  same  to  them  if  ye  warn 
them,  or  if  ye  warn  them  not,  they  will  not  be- 
lieve. God  has  set  a  seal  upon  their  hearts  and 
on  their  hearing;  and  on  their  eyes  is  dim- 
ness." 16  "Whomsoever  God  wishes  to  guide, 
He  expands  his  breast  to  Islam;  but  whom- 
soever He  wishes  to  lead  astray  He  makes 
his  breast  tight  and  straight;  thus  God  sets 
His  horror  on  those  who  do  not  believe."  17 
"We  have  created  for  hell  many  of  the  ginn 
and  of  mankind."  18  "God  leads  whom  He 
will  astray  and  guides  whom  he  will." 19 
"Dost  thou  not  see  that  we  have  sent  the 
devils  against  the  misbelievers  to  drive  them 
on  to  sin."  20  "He  pardons  whom  He  pleases 
and   torments   whom   He   pleases." 21      Sen- 

16  Koran,  Sura  ii,  5,  Palmer's  translation. 

"vii,  125. 

"vii,  178. 

"xiv,    4. 

20xix,   86. 

"xlviii,    14. 


46      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tences  of  like  tenor,  to  the  number  of  half 
a  hundred,  could  be  cited  from  the  Koran; 
and  to  add  to  the  grimness  of  the  picture  which 
is  given  of  an  autocratic  Deity  more  than  a 
hundred  pronouncements  of  hell  torments 
against  the  unbelieving  and  disobedient  are  dis- 
tributed through  the  pages  of  the  same  authori- 
tative book.  Indeed,  that  competent  student 
of  Mohammedanism,  D.  B.  Macdonald,  seems 
to  speak  with  very  fair  warrant  when  he  says : 
"Men  are  the  slaves  of  Allah,  His  absolute 
property  to  do  with  as  He  wills."  22 

Some  modification  of  this  portrayal  of  the 
divine  disposition  and  attitude  may  have  oc- 
curred in  outcroppings  of  Mohammedan  mys- 
ticism, especially  in  the  form  of  Suflsm,  the 
headquarters  of  which  were  located  in  Persia. 
But  in  its  affiliation  with  pantheism,  this  type 
of  Mohammedanism  has  its  own  dubious  fea- 
tures, and  besides  can  assert  no  claim  to  ortho- 
doxy as  against  the  tenor  of  the  professedly  in- 
fallible Koran. 

A  predominant  stress  upon  unsparing  sov- 
ereignty naturally  supports  the  inclination  of 
the  ardent  devotee  to  appeal  to  the  sword.  It 
is  no  cause  for  surprise,  therefore,  to  find  in 
the  Koran  passages  like  the  following:  "When 

32  "The  Vital  Forces  of  Christianity  and  Islam,"   p.   222.     Com- 
pare E.  W.  Hopkins,  "History  of  Religions,"  p.  460. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  47 

ye  encounter  the  unbelievers,  strike  off  their 
heads,  until  ye  have  made  a  great  slaughter 
among  them ;  and  bind  them  in  bonds,  and  either 
give  them  a  free  dismission  afterwards,  or  ex- 
act a  ransom  until  the  war  shall  have  laid  down 
its  arms.  Verily  if  God  pleased  He  could  take 
vengeance  on  them  without  your  assistance; 
but  He  commandeth  you  to  fight  His  battles, 
that  He  may  prove  the  one  of  you  by  the 
other.  And  as  to  those  who  fight  in  defense 
of  God's  true  religion,  God  will  not  suffer  their 
works  to  perish.  He  will  lead  them  and  dis- 
pose their  hearts  aright;  and  He  will  lead 
them  into  paradise."  23  Under  modern  condi- 
tions Mohammedan  jurisprudence  may  have 
set  bounds  to  the  prerogative  to  declare  a 
"holy  war,"  an  armed  crusade  against  unbe- 
lievers,24 but  it  is  quite  undeniable  that  if  Mo- 
hammedan zealots  should  desire  an  excuse  for 
unsheathing  the  sword  against  an  unbelieving 
nation,  they  would  not  need  to  search  the 
Koran  with  extra  care  in  order  to  find  agree- 
able texts. 

It  is  to  be  charged  still  further  against  Mo- 
hammedanism, that  it  falls  below  the  standard 
of  an  ideal  religion  in  being  to  so  large  a  de- 

33  xlvli,  4-7,  Sale's  translation. 

34  Macdonald,  "Development  of  Muslim  Theology,  Jurisprudence, 
and  Constitutional  Theory,"  pp.  55,  56. 


48      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

gree  a  religion  of  positive  precepts  rather  than 
one  of  principles,  and  also  by  making  no  clear 
distinction  between  the  religious  and  civil  do- 
mains. In  virtue  of  these  characteristics  it 
may  have  a  certain  efficiency  in  training  rude 
nations;  but  it  pays  heavily  for  any  such  ad- 
vantage in  the  extent  to  which  it  puts  obstruc- 
tions in  the  way  of  enlightened  progress.  At 
one  point  or  another  it  gives  the  sanction  of 
what  is  proclaimed  to  be  an  infallible  revela- 
tion to  distinctive  features  of  an  imperfect 
civilization.  Polygamy,  facility  of  divorce, 
and  license  for  concubinage,  with  all  the  dis- 
paragement of  woman's  dignity  which  they  in- 
volve, have  unequivocal  sanctions  in  the  Koran. 
Hence  liberal  Mohammedans,  who,  so  far  as 
their  own  preferences  are  concerned  might 
wish  to  modify  unworthy  customs,  are  held 
back  from  any  vigorous  and  persistent  effort 
at  reform. 

Once  more,  Mohammedanism  exposes  itself 
to  adverse  comment  by  its  materialistic  repre- 
sentations of  future  reward.  More  than  one 
passage  in  the  Koran  pictures  the  heavenly 
estate  in  thoroughly  sensuous,  not  to  say  sen- 
sual terms,  and  conveys  the  impression  that 
the  prize  to  be  looked  for  by  the  believer  is 
a    specially    extensive    and    richly    furnished 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS  49 

harem.  No  part  in  this  establishment,  it  may- 
be noted,  is  assigned  to  women  of  earthly  an- 
tecedents. This  did  not  follow  from  any  doubt 
in  the  mind  of  the  Arabian  prophet  about  the 
title  of  women  to  immortality.  He  simply 
judged  that  he  could  most  effectively  stimu- 
late the  hopes  of  the  men  who  followed  his 
standard  by  picturing  as  a  prominent  factor 
in  their  coming  felicity  groups  of  celestial 
maidens. 

In  reviewing  these  systems  of  religion  we 
have  made  it  a  point  to  consider  only  such  fea- 
tures as  clearly  belong  to  them,  and  to  avoid 
emphasizing  things  which  may  be  rated  as 
corrupting  additions.  To  deal  fairly  with 
Christianity  the  same  procedure  must,  of 
course,  be  observed  in  reviewing  the  subject- 
matter.  It  is  to  be  judged  by  its  essential  con- 
tents, and  not  by  perversions  and  accretions 
which  contradict  or  obscure  its  proper  essence. 
Taken  in  this  sense  it  may  confidently  invite 
comparison  with  any  religion  which  appeals  to 
human  faith.  There  is  no  need  to  disparage 
the  systems  which  we  have  just  sketched.  The 
fair-minded  Christian  apologist  will  admit  their 
merits.  His  contention  will  be  simply,  that 
Christianity  matches  their  excellences,  and  by 


50      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

its  rounded  system  of  truth  escapes  the  serious 
defects  by  which  each  one  of  them  is  marred. 
We  hope  to  give  credibility  to  this  proposition 
in  the  following  chapters  and  especially  in  the 
chapter  which  closes  this  treatise. 


CHAPTER  II:     CHRISTIANITY  AS 

RELATED    TO    A    HISTORICAL 

BASIS  AND  TO  WRITTEN 

ORACLES 

J:     The  Need  of  a  Historical  Basis  for  a  Successful 
Religion. 

Mere  speculation  cannot  create  a  living  and 
thriving  religion.  Philosophy  may  help  to 
undermine  a  given  religion,  or  may  furnish 
concepts  for  the  doctrinal  construction  carried 
on  within  a  given  religion;  but  it  takes  some- 
thing besides  philosophy  to  found  a  religion 
which  is  able  to  claim  a  right  of  way  in  the 
world.  The  philosophers  of  Greece  took  away 
from  the  cultured  some  of  the  props  to  their 
faith  in  the  old  polytheism  of  the  country ;  not 
one  of  them,  however,  gave  a  religion  to  the 
Greeks.  The  genius  of  a  Plato  and  of  an  Aris- 
totle did  not  suffice  for  that.  They  had,  in- 
deed, too  much  wisdom  to  attempt  to  make  a 
religion  out  of  a  bundle  of  philosophical  tenets. 

Such  experiments  as  have  been  made  with 

51 


52     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

abstract  religions,  or  with  religions  put  to- 
gether by  mere  intellectual  industry  in  for- 
mulating and  arranging  truths,  have  fallen  far 
short  of  the  expectations  of  their  authors.  This 
was  conspicuously  the  case  with  the  Theophi- 
lanthropists,  who  figured  in  the  era  of  the 
French  Revolution.  It  was  their  plan,  disown- 
ing special  historical  antecedents,  to  bring  to- 
gether good  teachings  from  all  accessible 
sources,  and  to  compound  them  into  a  rational 
and  consistent  system.  As  a  matter  of  fact  they 
selected  very  excellent  maxims.  But  what 
were  they  able  to  accomplish  with  their  fine 
compilation?  Next  to  nothing.  There  was  no 
power  in  it  to  capture  and  to  hold  men.  Much 
the  same  results  have  attended  similar  ex- 
periments in  more  recent  years,  as  may  be  seen 
by  consulting  the  records  of  "Free  Religious 
Associations"  and  "Theistic  Societies." 

The  trouble  with  a  religion  manufactured 
simply  by  intellectual  industry  in  gathering, 
formulating,  and  combining  truths,  is  that  it 
does  not  fit  the  human  subject.  In  almost  all 
relations  man  is  much  more  than  pure  intellect. 
The  demands  of  his  emotional  life  are  ever  com- 
ing to  the  front.  A  religion,  therefore,  that  is 
fitted  to  maintain  a  permanent  hold  upon  him 
must  give  good  heed  to  these  demands.     It 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  53 

must  have  food  for  the  heart.  It  must  do 
much  more  than  offer  a  well-devised  defini- 
tion of  the  divine;  it  must  furnish  apprehen- 
sible tokens  that  the  divine  is  with  man  for  his 
enrichment  and  blessing. 

This  is  as  much  as  saying  that,  in  order  to 
make  effective  connections  with  any  consider- 
able portion  of  the  race,  a  religion  must  utilize 
a  historic  process.  Facts,  or  supposed  facts, 
concrete  representations  of  how  a  superemi- 
nent  being  has  come  into  communication  with 
man,  and  wrought  within  the  sphere  of  his 
life,  constitute  the  most  apprehensible  tokens 
of  the  higher  power  that  can  be  furnished. 
They  appeal  to  the  imagination,  awaken  feel- 
ing, and  enkindle  the  hope  of  fellowship  to  a 
degree  that  is  quite  beyond  the  competency  of 
abstract  statements.  A  religion  that  can  boast 
of  any  strength  and  permanency  of  life  must 
be  able  to  point  to  a  sacred  history.  Of  course, 
a  sacred  history  which  serves  to  embody  reli- 
gious conceptions  and  to  insure  to  them  prac- 
tical vitality  may  have  near  to  its  beginning 
a  meager  content.  Even  such  a  content  may 
be  at  that  stage  very  serviceable  as  furnishing 
points  of  support  whereby  the  incipient  reli- 
gious faith  and  practice  may  gain  a  foothold 
in  the  world.    The  large  and  wealthy  content, 


54     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

however,  must  be  reached  in  due  season  if  a 
victorious  religion  is  to  result. 

The  religion  adapted  to  win  the  largest  and 
most  permanent  influence  is  the  one  whose 
sacred  history  has  the  richest  content,  and  the 
content  also  which  is  best  able  to  meet  the 
tests  of  criticism  which  sooner  or  later  are  sure 
to  be  applied.  Legend  being  taken  in  good 
faith  as  history  may  fulfill  the  office  of  history 
for  a  time  by  giving  concrete  representations 
of  religious  conceptions;  but  it  cannot  do  so 
forever.  This  is  not  saying  that  a  religion  is 
necessarily  discredited  by  the  discovery  that 
legend  has  a  place  in  its  oracles ;  for  the  oracles 
may  contain  such  high  values  that  the  element 
of  legend  shall  detract  little  from  them,  even 
if  it  be  rated  as  having  no  value  in  itself,  which 
is  not  necessarily  the  case.  The  true  state- 
ment is  that  legend  must  not  have  a  controlling 
place,  that  in  the  trend  and  principal  items  of 
its  sacred  history  a  religion  adapted  to  perma- 
nency must  rest  upon  facts. 


77:     The  Largeness  of  the  Historical  Basis  of 
Christianity 

In  a  very  eminent  sense  Christianity  is  a 
religion  of  historical  connections.     If  it  be 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  55 

true  that  its  principal  content  was  a  matter 
of  revelation,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  reve- 
lation, to  a  large  extent,  was  imparted  in  and 
through  a  historic  process.  That  process  too 
was  of  notable  extent.  In  the  biblical  point  of 
view  it  reached  across  the  breadth  of  two  mil- 
lenniums ;  and  in  any  sober  retrospect  it  cannot 
be  assigned  a  lesser  range.  For,  Christianity 
was  in  a  sense  germinant  in  the  Hebrew  dis- 
pensation. In  its  more  essential  features  that 
whole  dispensation  was  preparatory.  Its  inner 
movement  was  toward  the  religion  of  Christ, 
for  which  it  provided  an  open  door  into  the 
world  and  to  which  it  contributed  elements 
needed  for  completeness  of  content. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  somewhat  in  detail 
how  one  stage  of  sacred  history  prepared  for 
a  succeeding,  and  how  advance  in  general  was 
dependent  not  merely  upon  personal  inspira- 
tions, but  on  the  unf  oldments  of  history.  Thus 
the  Mosaic  era  had  its  antecedents  in  the  patri- 
archal. Moses  found  an  effective  basis  of  reli- 
gious appeal  to  the  people  in  the  fact  that  he 
was  able  to  proclaim  the  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  God  who  had  revealed 
His  friendliness  by  coming  into  known  asso- 
ciation with  the  forefathers. 

The  historic  movement  of  the  Mosaic  era 


56     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

was  profoundly  influential.  On  the  one  hand, 
by  the  great  deliverances  which  were  wrought 
for  Israel  that  era  impressed  the  thought  of 
God  as  deliverer,  and  laid  a  deep  foundation 
for  a  sense  of  obligation  to  Him  and  also  of  a 
special  national  vocation.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  magnified  the  thought  of  God  as  the  righte- 
ous lawgiver,  and  started  the  Israelites  upon 
that  course  of  training  which  led  them  to  value 
righteousness  and  to  exalt  the  conception  of  a 
righteous  Kingdom  beyond  all  antique  ex- 
ample beside. 

The  religious  treasure  of  the  Mosaic  age 
was  inherited  by  the  prophetical  era  which  pre- 
ceded and  included  the  time  of  the  Babylon- 
ish captivity.  The  great  prophets  were  deeply 
penetrated  with  the  ideas  of  God  as  deliverer 
and  righteous  lawgiver  and  with  the  thought 
of  Israel  as  dedicated  to  God  and  destined  to 
a  high  vocation.  The  tenacity  with  which  they 
held  these  ideas  prepared  them  to  hope  for 
Israel  in  spite  of  downfall.  Indeed  the  very 
dismalness  of  the  outlook  became  a  motive  with 
them  to  anticipate  a  specially  signal  interven- 
tion of  God  and  revelation  of  His  glorious 
sovereignty.  Confident  that  the  divine  pur- 
pose written  in  the  history  of  the  nation  must, 
in  spite  of  appearances,  be  fulfilled,  they  looked 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  57 

beyond  the  scene  of  national  ruin  and  penned 
those  radiant  expectations  which  we  designate 
Messianic  prophecy.  Whatever  degree  of 
divine  illumination  they  may  have  received, 
their  prophesying  was  plainly  based  to  a  very 
considerable  extent  in  the  antecedent  and  con- 
temporary history. 

When  we  come  to  the  inaugural  era  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  contained  in  the  period  of  Christ's 
ministry,  we  find  it  no  more  than  its  prede- 
cessors, discarding  historical  antecedents.  It 
is  true  that  Christ  spoke  with  an  authority  such 
as  no  teacher  in  Israel  had  ever  assumed,  and 
that  a  profound  originality  was  characteristic 
of  His  teaching.  But  it  is  to  be  noticed  that 
originality  has  a  province  not  merely  in  open- 
ing up  the  absolutely  new,  but  also  in  deepen- 
ing, widening  and  unifying  truths  to  which  a 
partial  recognition  may  already  have  been 
given.  As  a  thoughtful  writer  has  remarked, 
Christ  made  over  such  truths  into  a  "new  or- 
ganic conception  of  human  life  in  its  relations 
to  nature  and  to  God,  which,  taken  in  its  en- 
tirety, has  no  previous  counterpart,  and  which 
indeed  constitutes  the  greatest  step  that  has 
ever  been  gained  in  the  spiritual  development 
of  man."  *     Originality  in  this  sense  was  not 

1  Edward   Caird,   "Evolution   of   Religion,   II,  89,  90. 


58     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

incompatible  with  a  large  employment  of  reli- 
gious elements  from  the  Old  Testament  sphere. 
In  fact,  the  message  of  Christ  had  a  distinct 
basis  in  the  earlier  dispensation.  The  Old 
Testament  landscape  lies  in  it,  only  the  land- 
scape is  illuminated  by  a  new  light.  All  that 
the  Mosaic  era  and  the  subsequent  centuries 
taught  respecting  the  sanctity  of  divine  com- 
mands and  the  worth  of  loyal  obedience  is  im- 
plicit in  the  precepts  of  Christ.  In  this  domain 
He  had  but  to  spiritualize  and  deepen  an  ideal 
which  already  had  been  powerfully  enforced 
upon  the  conscience  of  Israel.  His  own  por- 
trayal also  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  had  most 
congenial  antecedents  in  the  lofty  delineations 
of  the  prophets,  and  various  passages  from 
their  forecasts  of  the  Messiah  were  so  apt  that 
He  could,  and  did,  use  them  as  means  of  imag- 
ing to  the  people  His  own  vocation.  Even  in 
respect  of  such  an  item  in  His  teaching  as  the 
doctrine  of  the  immortal  life,  good  foundations 
were  ready  to  His  hand  in  the  Old  Testament 
religion.  That  religion,  it  is  true,  says  very 
little  about  immortality.  Nevertheless,  as 
Christ  took  pains  to  indicate,2  it  provides  a 
firm  ground  for  belief  therein  by  virtue  of  its 
representation  of  man  as  a  subject  for  ethical 

2  Matt,  xxii,  31,  32  ;  Mark  xii,  26,  27  ;  Luke  xx,  37. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  59 

fellowship  with  God.  It  requires  but  a  step 
in  reasoning  to  conclude  that  the  subject  of 
that  order  of  fellowship  is  properly  destined 
to  immortal  life. 

An  historic  basis  for  other  elements  in 
Christ's  teaching  could  be  adduced.  But 
enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  His  mes- 
sage was  not  something  brought  into  the  world 
in  an  isolated  fashion.  It  was  congenially  re- 
lated to  historical  antecedents,  and  thus  had 
the  virtue  of  adaptation  in  addition  to  the 
merits  of  its  essential  contents.  Had  not  the 
message  of  Christ  been  in  line  with  a  historic 
development,  it  would  have  had  no  fair  chance 
to  obtain  a  lodgment  in  the  world.  No  com- 
pany of  men  would  have  been  found  capable 
of  receiving  it  or  of  understanding  it  suffi- 
ciently to  transmit  it  in  its  integrity.  As  actu- 
ally given  it  both  made  connection  with  special 
historical  conditions,  and  was  so  broad  and 
complete  in  principle  as  to  be  able  to  fit  all 
times  and  conditions. 

In  another  way  the  ministry  of  Christ  illus- 
trates the  dependence  of  religious  truth  upon 
the  historic  method  for  getting  itself  introduced 
and  naturalized  in  the  world.  He  delivered 
His  message  by  deeds  as  well  as  by  words.  He 
lived  the  life,   and  wrought  the  works,  and 


60     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

achieved  the  self-sacrifice  most  fitted  to  teach 
men  the  deepest  spiritual  verities,  and  to  mir- 
ror to  them  for  all  time  the  thought  and  feeling 
and  purpose  of  Him  whom  He  taught  His 
disciples  to  address  as  the  Father  in  heaven. 
To  instruct  men  in  understandable  terms,  He 
made  by  the  will  of  the  Father,  a  special  chap- 
ter in  history.  He  incarnated  truth  and  set 
it  forth  in  the  lineaments  of  a  matchless  life. 
In  the  closing  biblical  era,  the  apostolic,  we 
meet  with  signal  illustrations  of  the  intercon- 
nection between  historic  movement  and  the 
revelation  and  enforcement  of  truth.  Whence 
came  the  sustained  enthusiasm,  the  marvelous 
spiritual  energy  of  that  era?  To  refer  it  to  the 
working  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  give  an  ex- 
planation which  the  New  Testament  itself  rec- 
ognizes. But  evidently  it  is  not  the  whole  ex- 
planation. The  Holy  Spirit  had  always  been 
in  the  world,  and  always  was  ready  to  improve 
opportunities  for  enlightening  and  quickening 
human  spirits.  How  then  account  for  so 
marked  demonstrations  in  the  apostolic  era? 
Some  consideration  may  be  given  to  the  idea 
of  a  divine  choice  of  certain  times  to  be  in  a 
special  sense  seasons  of  fruitage  or  of  mani- 
fested spiritual  efficiency;  but  the  superior  ex- 
planation may  be  regarded  as  lying  in  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  61 

special  opportunities  of  the  era.  The  life  and 
teaching  and  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ 
were  supremely  adapted  to  be  the  ground  of 
an  extraordinary  spiritual  working.  They 
only  needed  to  be  grasped  in  their  true  mean- 
ing in  order  powerfully  to  dominate  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  the  early  disciples.  Here  lay  the 
opportunity  and  function  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
His  office  was  to  quicken  the  interior  vision  of 
the  disciples  in  relation  to  the  new  world  of 
spiritual  verities  in  Christ — in  New  Testa- 
ment phrase,  to  take  of  the  things  of  Christ 
and  declare  them  unto  the  disciples.3  Nothing 
more  was  necessary  to  make  these  men  vic- 
torious over  the  world.  In  their  sense  of  en- 
richment and  their  consciousness  of  union  with 
Him,  whom  they  knew  as  combining  the  most 
perfect  human  sympathy  with  the  glory  of  the 
triumphant  and  exalted  Lord,  they  possessed 
the  spring  of  a  joyful  and  tireless  activity. 
Their  lives  became  in  a  sense  a  continuation  of 
the  biography  of  Christ,  even  as  one  of  the 
foremost  in  the  apostolic  group  testified  in  the 
words,  "I  live,  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me."4  No  abstract  ideal  could  have 
wrought  thus.  It  was  the  penetrating  convic- 
tion that  Christ  had  actually  proved  Himself 

3  John   xvi,  14. 
*Gal.   ii,   20. 


62     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  be  the  bearer  of  a  new  economy  of  grace 
and  love  which  made  new  men  of  the  primitive 
disciples,  and  qualified  them  to  be  the  heralds 
of  a  new  creation.  Thus  their  faith  and  teach- 
ing and  life  had  a  distinct  basis  in  historical 
facts. 

It  is  worth  noting,  moreover,  that  these  dis- 
ciples, after  all  they  had  received  from  Christ, 
needed  to  be  still  further  enlightened  by  the 
historic  method.  Even  men  upon  whom  the 
pentecostal  fire  had  descended  required  fur- 
ther instruction,  and  gained  it  largely  through 
the  movement  of  events.  This  was  clearly 
illustrated  on  the  subject  of  the  relation  of 
Christianity  to  Judaism.  How  was  this  mat- 
ter expounded  to  the  minds  of  the  apostles? 
How  did  they  come  to  the  clear  conviction  of 
the  universality  of  Christianity  and  of  the 
opportunity  of  all  men  to  enter  into  the  pos- 
session of  its  riches  without  being  required  to 
pass  through  the  gateway  of  Judaism?  It  is 
quite  certain  that  whatever  else  may  have 
aided  in  bringing  them  to  this  conviction,  the 
march  of  events  was  a  principal  agency  in  the 
matter.  Christianity  proved  itself  to  be  too 
much  alive  to  be  held  by  Jewish  restrictions. 
Gentiles  in  one  and  another  district,  who  had 
never  subscribed  to  the  ceremonial  law,  were 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  63 

taken  captive  by  the  new  faith  and  furnished 
unmistakable  evidence  of  sharing  in  its  proper 
spiritual  fruits.  Thus  the  logic  of  facts  was 
brought  to  bear  in  an  effective  manner.  Di- 
vine leadership  in  the  field  of  events  wrought 
with  divine  inspirations  in  the  minds  of  the 
apostles  to  bring  them  to  a  rounded  interpre- 
tation of  Christianity. 

We  see,  then,  that  to  a  very  large  extent  the 
inestimable  treasure  of  Christian  truth  has 
been  brought  into  the  world  and  made  the  pos- 
session of  men  through  a  historic  process. 
This  conclusion,  it  should  be  observed,  in  no 
wise  shuts  out  the  supernatural ;  it  implies  only 
that  the  supernatural  power,  instead  of  acting 
in  an  abrupt  and  isolated  way,  is  accustomed 
to  choose  a  method  which  respects,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  organic  connections  of  events.  It 
assuredly  contributes  to  the  fabric  of  human 
history.  It  makes  a  history  into  a  sacred  his- 
tory. But  it  does  not,  so  to  speak,  exclude  the 
natural  threads  and  the  natural  processes  of 
weaving;  rather  it  skillfully  unites  with  them 
the  threads  which  glorify  the  fabric  and  give 
to  it  a  divine  value.  We  may  say,  indeed,  that 
it  is  the  false  supernatural,  the  imagined  inter- 
vention  of  the  higher   powers,   which   seems 


64      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

heedless  of  connection  with  ordinary  instru- 
mentalities and  activities. 


///;     The  Rounded  Character  Secured  to  the  Bibli- 
cal Revelation  by  the  Extraordinary  Com- 
pleteness of  Its  Historical  Basis 

The  wide  sweep  of  the  historic  process  which 
lies  back  of  the  message  of  Christian  truth  has 
an  obvious  connection  with  the  completeness 
of  the  Christian  system  and  with  our  confi- 
dence therein.  It  is  the  extent  of  the  process 
which  has  made  the  Christian  Bible  a  book  of 
such  wonderful  breadth.  By  nothing  less 
could  so  great  a  variety  and  balance  of  factors 
have  been  secured,  or  so  great  richness  and 
manifoldness  in  the  illustration  of  truth.  The 
Bible  in  its  actual  comprehensiveness  could  not 
have  been  given  to  the  world  by  any  one 
human  mind  or  by  any  single  age.  The  best 
that  one  agent  of  revelation  could  do,  within 
the  limits  of  an  earthly  lifetime,  would  be  to 
set  forth  the  supreme  things  rightly  coordi- 
nated with  one  another — the  central  content 
of  faith  and  the  governing  principles  of  con- 
duct. To  bring  in  the  auxiliary  truths  and  to 
secure  fullness  of  illustration  the  differing 
talents  of  many  gifted  servants  of  God  and 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  65 

the  advantages  of  a  great  variety  of  historical 
situations  needed  to  be  utilized.  A  book  like 
the  Koran  might  have  been  compiled  by  a  sin- 
gle hand,  though  not  without  drawing  from 
already  existing  stores.  But  who  can  imagine 
a  single  hand  writing  the  Bible? 

Even  if  we  glance  simply  at  the  Old  Testa- 
ment we  are  struck  with  the  comprehensive- 
ness of  our  sacred  book.  There  is  the  litera- 
ture of  law,  well  fitted  to  nurture  the  sense  of 
duty,  to  build  up  religious  habits,  and  to  for- 
tify against  disintegrating  contact  with  alien 
systems.  There  is  the  contrasted  literature  of 
prophecy,  more  subjective  in  tone,  emphasiz- 
ing the  interior  disposition  as  the  heart  of  re- 
ligion, reaching  out  toward  universal  princi- 
ples, and  giving  scope  to  the  progressive  ele- 
ments in  the  religious  life  of  Israel.  There  is 
historical  narrative,  full  of  object-lessons  in 
morals  and  piety.  There  is  the  wisdom  litera- 
ture, giving  the  results  of  studious  reflection 
on  man  and  the  world  in  the  form  of  proverb 
or  poem.  There  is  finally  the  literature  of 
devotion,  a  collection  of  lyrics  which  one  may 
say  without  exaggeration  mirrors  the  heights 
and  depths  of  personal  and  national  experi- 
ence for  a  thousand  years.  Thus  types 
broadly  contrasted,  but  at  the  same  time  mu- 


66     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tually  supplementary,  make  up  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  give  to  it  a  character  of  peculiar 
comprehensiveness. 

If  we  extend  the  view  so  as  to  include  the 
New  Testament  we  shall  greatly  enlarge  the 
illustration  of  the  sweep  of  the  biblical  revela- 
tion and  of  the  way  in  which  it  secures  com- 
pleteness through  variety  and  contrast.  As 
respects  the  relation  between  the  two  Testa- 
ments, a  broad  contrast  undoubtedly  is  to  be 
recognized.  But  the  contrast  is  one  which 
rather  confirms  than  denies  the  divine  office 
of  the  Hebraic  dispensation.  It  is,  in  large 
part,  the  contrast  between  the  glimmerings  of 
the  approaching  morn  and  the  clear  shining  of 
the  full  daylight.  If  there  is  any  contradic- 
tion between  the  earlier  and  the  later  revela- 
tion, it  is  on  points  which  the  earlier,  by  its 
own  advance,  tended  to  revise  in  the  direction 
of  the  later,  even  as  Christ  declared  that  he 
came  not  to  destroy  the  Law  and  the  Prophets 
but  to  fulfill,  that  is,  to  achieve  their  ideal 
meaning  and  purpose. 

Taking  still  further  the  New  Testament  by 
itself  we  may  readily  see  how  different  types 
have  supplemented  one  another,  and  so  minis- 
tered to  the  wealth  and  completeness  of  the 
revelation.     On  the  one  hand,  we  have  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  67 

Synoj)tical  Gospels,  presenting  the  life  of 
Christ  in  an  essentially  objective  style.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  have  an  interpreting  Gos- 
pel, presenting  the  person  and  the  life  of 
Christ  as  they  were  apprehended  by  a  mind 
richly  dowered  with  mystical  depth  and  fervor. 
We  have  the  Petrine  type  of  teaching,  with  its 
call  to  courageous  testimony  and  patient  en- 
durance for  the  name  of  Christ,  its  predomi- 
nant stress  on  consecrated  practical  activity. 
We  have  the  Pauline  type  with  its  profound 
emphasis  upon  the  reconciliation  freely  pro- 
vided by  God's  grace,  having  its  pledge  and 
objective  ground  in  the  death  of  Christ,  and 
waiting  to  be  apprehended  by  an  act  of  living 
faith.  We  have  a  supplement  to  Paul's  teach- 
ing in  the  eloquent  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  with 
its  picture  of  Christ's  reconciling  office  as 
transcending  His  earthly  ministry  and  as 
being  perpetually  fulfilled  in  the  heavenly 
sanctuary.  We  have  finally  the  Johannine 
type,  with  its  stress  upon  a  mystical  union  with 
God,  a  fellowship  realized  through  love  and 
introducing  its  subject  forthwith  to  an  eternal 
life. 

Now  who  would  not  say  that  the  biblical  sys- 
tem would  suffer  loss  from  the  elimination  of 
any  one  of  the  types  or  forms  of  teaching 


68     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

which  have  been  mentioned?  Plainly  not  one 
of  them  could  be  spared  without  detriment. 
And  so  we  see  the  grand  utility,  the  veritable 
necessity,  of  the  age-long  process  which  gave 
opportunity  for  these  various  types  to  be  de- 
veloped and  to  gain  a  lodgment  in  human  un- 
derstanding and  appreciation.  The  Bible  is 
what  it  is  because  the  patient  God  wrought 
through  many  centuries,  by  means  of  provi- 
dences as  well  as  by  inspirations,  to  impress 
His  message  upon  the  elect  spirits  of  the  race, 
and  at  length  added  to  all  other  expedients  the 
one  great  expedient  of  sending  His  Son  to 
teach  and  to  illustrate  the  perfect  truth  of  the 
divine  kingdom. 

IV:     The  Rational  Estimate  of  the  Dependence  of 
Christianity  on  Written  Oracles 

In  determining  the  indebtedness  of  the 
Christian  religion  to  a  great  historic  process, 
as  a  means  of  making  known  and  illustrating 
divine  truth,  we  have  not  determined  precisely 
its  relation  to  the  Bible.  The  Bible  differs,  at 
least  in  large  part,  from  the  primary  revela- 
tion, much  as  the  record  of  a  communication 
differs  from  the  original  communication. 
Revelation  was  before  the  Bible.     The  truths 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  69 

which  adorn  the  pages  of  the  Holy  Book  were 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  its  authors  before 
they  were  put  into  written  form.  The  great 
central  disclosure  through  Christ  had  a  place 
in  the  world  years  before  a  single  Gospel  was 
written.  The  Bible  is  simply  the  standard 
record  of  revealed  truth,  the  standard  compen- 
dium of  the  products  of  the  revealing  process. 
No  one  can  deny  the  dependence  of  Christian- 
ity upon  the  revealing  process.  It  could  not 
have  existed  in  its  proper  character  apart  from 
that.  But  what  about  its  relation  to  the  stand- 
ard compendium,  a  particular  set  of  written 
oracles,  the  commonly  recognized  collection  of 
biblical  books,  into  which  the  principal  fruits 
of  the  revealing  process  have  been  gathered? 
Is  strict  dependence  to  be  affirmed,  or  are  we 
at  liberty  to  assume  that  Christian  truth,  hav- 
ing once  gotten  into  human  consciousness,  is 
very  little  beholden,  for  continued  subsistence 
and  propagation,  to  any  set  of  written  oracles  ? 
In  answering  this  important  question  the 
thoughtful  student  will  find  reasons  against 
taking  an  extreme  position  on  either  side.  It 
will  not  seem  to  him  permissible  to  make  small 
account  of  the  dependence  of  Christianity  upon 
written  oracles.  It  sounds,  indeed,  rather  plau- 
sible when  one  argues  with  the  celebrated  Les- 


70     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

sing,  that  the  truths  which  a  divinely-guided 
movement  has  brought  into  the  world  have  be- 
come the  property  of  the  human  mind,  have 
passed  over  in  large  part  from  being  truths 
of  revelation  and  have  become  truths  of  rea- 
son, and  thus  are  so  well  intrenched  that  there 
is  no  special  occasion  to  revert  to  written  or- 
acles in  order  to  be  assured  of  their  claims. 
Such  reasoning,  however,  overlooks  two  things. 
In  the  first  place  it  does  not  sufficiently  regard 
the  liability  of  any  system  that  is  put  into  the 
hands  of  men  to  drift  away  from  its  own  prin- 
ciples or  to  run  into  onesided  developments. 
History  informs  us  by  multiplied  examples 
that  a  people  which  would  pursue  the  path  of 
nobility  and  success  has  abundant  occasion  to 
keep  in  vivid  recollection  its  best  traditions,  to 
cherish  reverently  the  standards  which  it  has 
evolved  in  its  most  creative  epochs.  Only  by 
the  use  of  the  same  method  can  religious  soci- 
ety be  safeguarded  against  declension  and  kept 
in  the  way  of  a  sure  progress.  In  more  than 
one  instance  the  later  stages  of  a  religion  have 
stood  in  unfavorable  contrast  with  the  earlier. 
The  lessons  of  history,  therefore,  as  well  as  the 
reason  of  the  case,  teach  that  Christianity,  in 
order  to  be  secure  of  a  normal  development, 
needs  often  to  revert  to  its  originals,  and  to  con- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  71 

template  truth  in  the  balanced  presentation  of 
it  which  has  been  given  in  the  Bible  as  the  rec- 
ord of  a  wide-reaching  and  marvelously  rich 
historical  process. 

In  the  second  place  the  reasoning  in  question 
errs  by  not  recognizing  the  incompetency  of 
abstract  truths  to  take  the  place  of  concrete 
representations,  or  truths  set  in  the  forms  of 
real  history.  Were  one  to  write  in  condensed 
prose,  he  could  put  into  a  few  pages  the  sub- 
stance of  all  the  history,  ethics,  and  religion 
contained  in  the  immortal  poems  of  Homer. 
A  like  space  would  suffice  for  penning  the 
moral  and  religious  ideas  contained  in  the 
writings  of  Shakespeare.  But  no  sane  man 
will  say  that  the  world  could  afford  to  close  up 
the  Homeric  poems  and  the  Shakespearean 
dramas,  and  to  edify  itself  with  a  bundle  or  two 
of  outlines  and  abstractions  gathered  from 
them.  No  more  can  the  world  accept  a  list  of 
bare  precepts  and  dogmas  in  place  of  its  mas- 
terpieces in  sacred  literature.  The  mighty  He- 
brew drama,  with  its  long  list  of  scenes  from 
the  call  of  Abraham  to  the  preaching  of  John 
the  Baptist,  with  its  sustained  intensity,  and 
with  its  wonderful  interplay  of  light  and  shad- 
ow, impresses  religious  truth  as  no  purely  in- 
tellectual formulas,  however  well  chosen,  could 


72      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

impress  them.  The  gospel  narratives  have  a 
perennial  charm  and  a  spiritual  potency  which 
no  prosaic  statement  of  the  main  truths  for 
which  they  stand  can  ever  approach.  As  well 
make  a  definition  of  music  answer  the  purpose 
of  a  heavenly  strain,  or  a  mere  outline  subserve 
the  purpose  of  the  finished  painting,  or  a  physi- 
ological description  take  the  place  of  the  real- 
ized ideal  of  human  beauty,  as  to  suppose  that 
any  abstract  statements  about  man  or  God 
can  fulfill  the  practical  office  of  the  life-story  of 
Christ.  As  was  observed  at  the  beginning  of 
this  chapter,  a  religion  can  make  effective  con- 
nections with  men  only  by  utilizing  the  his- 
toric form.  The  oracles,  therefore,  which  con- 
tain the  sacred  histoiy  of  Christianity  cannot 
be  regarded  as  ever  destined  in  the  course  of 
earthly  history  to  fulfill  an  inferior  function. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  measure  of  caution  is 
needed  against  proceeding  to  the  opposite  ex- 
treme and  taking  the  dependence  of  Chris- 
tianity upon  the  Bible  in  a  too  narrow  and 
technical  sense.  We  run  into  exaggeration  if 
we  suppose  there  is  an  obligation  to  set  a  rigid 
limit  to  approved  thinking  in  the  letter  of  the 
Scriptures.  In  taking  that  position  we  should 
go  contrary  to  the  example  of  the  Scriptures 
themselves;  for,  the  later  books  in  the  sacred 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  73 

collection  do  not  recognize  the  demand  for  a 
close  undeviating  conformity  to  the  earlier. 
Granting,  as  we  well  may  with  all  heartiness, 
that  ruling  principles  for  all  conduct  are  con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures,  we  are  in  no  wise  shut 
out  from  the  conclusion  that  it  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  Christian  society  to  advance  to  one  and 
another  new,  or  relatively  new,  application  of 
those  principles.  Advances  of  this  kind  have 
been  made.  From  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament,  for  example,  inductions  have  been 
drawn  respecting  the  impropriety  of  human 
slavery  which  the  early  Christians  were  not 
prepared  to  draw.  Improved  views  on  some 
other  lines  may  be  possible.  To  confess  this 
much  is  to  honor  rather  than  to  dishonor  the 
Bible,  since  it  serves  to  emphasize  the  fruit- 
bearing  capacity  of  the  great  principles  to 
which  the  Bible  invites  perpetual  attention. 
Successive  generations  are  needed  to  bring  out 
all  the  good  which  is  locked  up  in  those  prin- 
ciples. 

Again  Christianity  is  not  so  limited  to  the 
Bible  that  its  advocates  have  no  function  to 
criticize  anything  within  biblical  limits.  The 
very  nature  of  the  Bible  would  lead  us  to  ex- 
pect more  or  less  matter  for  criticism.  Essen- 
tially it  is  the  record  of  a  great  historic  process 


74     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

by  which  the  character,  will,  and  purpose  of 
God  have  been  made  manifest.  It  records  a 
progress  in  the  unfoldment  and  inculcation  of 
truth.  Now  progress  of  this  sort  naturally  in- 
volves an  element  of  criticism.  The  advanced 
stage  contains  an  implicit  judgment  on  one 
or  another  phase  of  the  earlier  stage  as  falling 
short  of  its  standard.  In  fact  there  is  some- 
thing like  criticism  of  Scripture  within  the 
Scriptures.  Various  sayings  of  Christ  imply 
that  the  standard  to  which  His  followers  are 
to  be  held  is  higher  than  that  which  might  be 
drawn  from  the  Old  Testament,  and  is  to  be 
regarded  as  supplanting  the  latter.  What 
Christ  began  to  do  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  His 
disciples  must  continue  to  do  in  some  measure, 
unless  it  is  to  be  debarred  from  its  office  by 
arbitrary  and  inflexible  presuppositions.  Edu- 
cation up  to  the  highest  level  of  the  Bible 
by  natural  consequence  prepares  one  to  dis- 
cover an  element  of  imperfection  in  some  lower 
level. 

Of  course  the  devout  student  in  virtue  of  his 
profound  reverence  will  not  care  to  spend  his 
time  in  search  for  flaws  in  the  Bible,  any  more 
than  he  will  care  to  scan  a  face  divinely  beau- 
tiful just  for  the  sake  of  discovering  an  imper- 
fection.    But  suppose  that  in  his  perusal  of 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  75 

the  sacred  pages  he  actually  comes  across  an 
imperfection.  Will  he  need  to  be  stumbled  by 
the  discovery?  Assuredly  not.  For,  what  is 
to  be  asked  of  the  Bible?  Not  that  it  should 
show  no  traces  of  the  human  channels  through 
which  its  subject-matter  has  been  transmitted. 
Not  that  it  should  run  on  the  same  level  all  the 
way  through.  What  is  to  be  asked  of  the  Bible 
is,  that  the  trend  and  outcome  of  its  teaching 
should  be  such  as  to  leave  us,  in  all  essential 
particulars,  with  a  perfect  ethical  and  religious 
standard.  What  matters  it,  if  some  errors  are 
found  in  items  only  externally  related  to  the 
purpose  of  the  biblical  revelation?  They  may 
be  rated  as  belonging  to  the  mere  scaffolding 
incidental  to  the  erection  of  the  building 
proper.  What  matters  it  though  some  errors 
be  found  that  have  somewhat  of  a  moral  or 
religious  import?  If  in  the  total  movement 
of  revelation  they  are  clearly  offset,  cancelled, 
or  corrected,  we  are  left  in  spite  of  them  with 
the  complete  standard,  and  they  become  sim- 
ply memorials  of  the  limited  vision  of  this  or 
that  human  agent  in  the  extended  line  of  those 
who  have  been  utilized  in  preparing  the  biblical 
books.  The  thing  of  supreme  consequence  is 
to  have  the  perfect  standard  ultimately  re- 
yealed  and  set  forth  with  adequate  clearness. 


76     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

And  this  is  accomplished  in  the  biblical  revela- 
tion. The  standard  which  no  progress  can  ever 
leave  behind  is  presented  in  that  revelation. 
It  stands  forth  conspicuous,  exalted,  glorious 
as  a  mount  of  transfiguration.  The  truths 
which  come  to  a  crowning  manifestation  in  the 
character,  work,  and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ 
are  good  enough  to  rule  the  most  distant  gen- 
eration of  men,  good  enough  to  shape  forever 
the  fellowship  of  God's  immortal  children. 

The  excessively  technical  view  of  the  Bible 
makes  needless  trouble.  No  one  would  think 
of  attempting  to  secure  a  stable  equilibrium 
for  a  pyramid  by  turning  it  upon  its  apex. 
No  more  should  one  think  of  resting  the  cause 
of  the  Bible  upon  the  accuracy  of  every  detail 
of  the  Bible.  No  one  when  walking  within 
the  walls  of  a  great  temple,  should  he  observe 
that  a  little  chipping  had  been  taken  from  this 
or  that  massive  pillar,  would  be  made  appre- 
hensive of  the  downfall  of  the  temple.  No 
more  should  one  be  made  apprehensive  of  the 
collapse  of  the  great  biblical  edifice  of  truth  by 
observing  a  token  of  errancy  in  one  or  another 
secondary  or  surface  matter.  The  way  of  peace 
and  assurance  for  the  Christian  believer  is  not 
the  way  of  faith  in  the  necessary  perfection  of 
every  item  in  the  Bible,  but  rather  of  confi- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  HISTORICAL  BASIS  77 

dence  in  the  greatness,  sufficiency,  and  finality 
of  the  ethical  and  religious  system  in  which  the 
biblical  revelation  eventuates. 

An  additional  reason  for  not  insisting  on 
a  high  technical  theory  of  the  Bible  is  to  be 
found  in  the  undeniable  facts  respecting  the 
biblical  canon,  or  the  proper  compass  of  the 
sacred  volume,  the  list  of  books  to  be  approved. 
Who  knows  beyond  all  question  what  books 
should  be  included?  Has  any  one  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  been  favored  with  an  unequivocal 
divine  decree  on  the  subject?  In  no  single 
century  has  Christendom  been  completely 
agreed  on  the  precise  dimensions  which  should 
be  given  to  the  canon.  A  margin  of  conflicting 
opinion  has  persisted  to  this  hour.  That  it 
has  done  so  is  not  of  vital  consequence,  since 
there  is  a  firm  consensus  relative  to  the  accept- 
ance of  all  the  more  significant  and  important 
books.  To  find  a  way  to  a  complete  consensus 
seems  to  be  out  of  the  question.  One  may  in- 
deed subscribe  to  the  dogma  of  ecclesiastical  in- 
fallibility and  so  take  as  a  finality  the  decision 
of  the  Council  of  Trent,  which  included  in  the 
Old  Testament  over  half  a  dozen  books,5  which 
Protestant  judgment  for  the  most  part  has 
continuously    rejected.      But    how    persuade 

6  To  wit,   Tobith,   Judith,   Wisdom,   Ecclesiastieus,   Baruch,    First 
Maccabees,  Second  Maccabees,  and  additions  to  Esther  and  Daniel. 


78     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

those  of  dissenting  views  to  adopt  this  short- 
hand method  of  settling  a  question  of  fact.  In 
the  face  of  the  historical  record  insurmountable 
difficulties  close  the  way  to  any  such  result. 
So  the  best  that  can  possibly  be  done  is  for 
piety  and  scholarship  to  work  together  to 
establish  an  approximate  settlement  of  the 
canon. 

Now  observe  the  necessary  bearing  of  this 
conclusion.  If  every  book,  in  its  entirety, 
which  is  in  the  Bible  cannot  be  certified  to  have 
a  right  to  be  there,  evidently  it  cannot  right- 
fully be  asserted  that  every  book  in  its  every 
part  is  inerrant  on  the  ground  that  inerrancy 
is  the  peculiar  distinction  of  the  Bible.  What 
perchance  has  no  right  to  be  in  the  Bible  at  all, 
cannot  claim  on  the  score  of  mere  physical  jux- 
taposition to  share  in  the  perfection  which  is 
postulated  of  the  Bible.  Uncertainty  as  to  the 
limits  of  the  canon  mocks  every  attempt  to 
set  the  actual  collection  of  books  above  the  lia- 
bility of  being  tinged  with  errancy.  Instead 
of  cleaving  to  the  ultra-technical  theory  of  the 
Bible,  it  is  the  wise  course  to  stress  the  ethico- 
religious  wealth  which  makes  the  marvelous 
book  able  and  worthy  to  take  captive  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  men. 


CHAPTER   III:     THE    PLACE    OF 

JESUS,    THE    CHRIST,    IN 

CHRISTIANITY 

7":     The  Realization  of  the  Moral  Ideal  in  Christ 

If  the  practical  efficiency  of  a  religion  depends 
upon  its  possessing  a  historical  character,  the 
prime  demand  of  the  highest  and  most  efficient 
religion  may  reasonably  be  regarded  as  the 
union  of  the  ideal  and  the  real  in  a  historic  per- 
sonality. This  is  what  Christianity  claims  for 
itself  as  an  unique  distinction.  It  affirms  that 
it  has  not  merely  an  unblemished  abstract  ideal, 
but  the  ideal  actualized  on  the  field  of  history, 
and  thus  made  apprehensible  and  potent. 
Whatever  else  Christ  may  be  in  the  point  of 
view  of  Christianity,  He  is  certainly  the  moral 
ideal. 

A  moral  ideal  may  be  regarded  both  nega- 
tively and  positively.  Affirmed  of  Christ  in 
the  former  sense  it  denotes  His  freedom  from 
all  contamination  and  guilt,  His  perfect  moral 
purity  or  sinlessness.  If  asked  to  demon- 
strate that  Christ  was  distinguished  by  this 

79 


80     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

entire  purity  we  shall  doubtless  be  obliged  to 
answer,  that  strict  demonstration  is  here  out 
of  the  question.  A  historical  fact  of  this  kind 
is  in  the  nature  of  the  case  incapable  of  abso- 
lute proof.  What  is  to  be  asked  for  is  a  weight 
of  evidence  so  decided  as  to  induce  rational  as- 
sent. This  much  of  evidence,  it  is  believed, 
can  be  produced. 

1.  The  impression  made  by  the  life  of 
Christ  is  worth  citing  in  favor  of  faith  in  his 
freedom  from  sin.  This  impression  may  be 
traced  in  connection  with  three  different  par- 
ties. It  is  clearly  evinced,  in  the  first  place, 
in  the  testimony  given  by  the  primitive  dis- 
ciples, or  at  least  in  declarations  which  may 
be  regarded  as  certainly  based  upon  their  tes- 
timony.1 The  whole  body  of  the  apostolic  lit- 
erature may  be  said  to  reflect  the  unhesitating 
conviction  that  Christ  was  without  sin.  Paul 
in  writings  composed  within  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  from  the  death  of  Christ,  treats  the 
truth  of  His  sinlessness  as  a  commonplace  of 
Christian  thought. 

As  sharing  in  the  apostolic  impression  we 
may  mention  next  the  vast  company  of  those 
who  in  a  serious  spirit  have  brought  them- 
selves face  to  face  with  the  image  of  Christ 

1  John  vii,  18,  viii,  29  ;  1  John  iii,  5  ;  1  Peter  ii,  22  ;  Heb.  iv,  15, 
vii,   20  ;   2  Cor.  v,  21  ;   Kom.  viii,   3. 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  81 

which  is  reflected  in  the  Gospels.  They  have 
found  that  the  contemplation  of  that  historic 
figure  has  been  more  effective  than  aught  be- 
sides to  make  them  feel  the  exceeding  sinful- 
ness of  their  sins.  Thus  their  experience  has 
powerfully  supported  the  conviction  that  in 
meeting  the  Christ  they  have  met  one  whom  the 
stains  and  compromises  of  sin  never  touched. 

Supplementing  the  force  of  this  vivid  im- 
pression in  the  hearts  of  the  great  multitude 
of  earnest  Christians  there  is  the  verdict  of  men 
whose  names  are  associated  with  high  achieve- 
ments in  modern  philosophy  and  criticism.  If 
not  always  rendered  in  perfectly  explicit 
terms  that  verdict  is  certainly  not  contradic- 
tory of  the  apostolic  conviction  and  of  the  or- 
dinary Christian  consciousness  on  this  theme. 
In  spite  of  all  their  venturesome  excursions, 
the  philosophy  and  criticism  of  the  Occident 
have,  since  the  days  of  Kant,  admitted  for  the 
major  part  the  propriety  of  viewing  Christ  as 
the  realized  moral  ideal.  The  contraiy  judg- 
ment would  scarcely  be  looked  for  except 
among  bizarre  and  skeptical  thinkers. 

2.  A  very  important  evidence  confronts  us 
in  the  unique  fact  that  no  trace  of  a  conscious- 
ness of  sin  is  discoverable  in  the  entire  revela- 
tion which  Christ  has  given  of  Himself.     No 


82      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

note  of  repentance  can  be  found  in  His  record. 
Not  the  slightest  suggestion  is  furnished  that 
He  ever  needed  to  bring  into  the  presence  of 
the  Father  a  word  of  apology.  In  any  other 
earthly  biography  a  high  order  of  saintliness 
is  seen  to  be  won  through  profound  experiences 
of  contrition.  The  shadow  of  unworthiness 
never  entirely  disappears  even  from  the  path 
which  ascends  into  the  light  of  God's  counte- 
nance. How,  then,  shall  we  explain  the  fact 
that  the  consciousness  of  Jesus  was  entirely 
free  from  this  shadow?  If  the  exemption  was 
not  due  to  the  actual  possession  of  a  sinless 
character  it  was  an  eccentricity  which  natur- 
ally would  have  borne  fruit  in  practical  aber- 
rations. Piety  without  repentance,  in  one  who 
needed  to  repent,  would  have  been  such  a 
counterfeit  as  could  not  well  avoid  exposing 
its  artificiality  and  worthlessness.  Accord- 
ingly the  profound  impression  of  moral  worth 
which  comes  from  every  part  of  the  record  of 
Christ  affords  a  very  positive  assurance  that 
His  unconsciousness  of  sin  was  not  chargeable 
to  any  self-deception. 

3.  The  spiritual  freedom  characteristic  of 
Christ  in  divine  and  human  relations  argues 
that,  as  He  was  not  hardened  by  the  guilt  of 
sin,  so  He  was  exempt  from  its  fetters.     The 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  83 

tone  of  His  life  was  ever  that  of  mastery  as 
opposed  to  unsuccessful  striving.  "He  stands 
free  in  the  presence  of  law  and  tradition,  of 
friend  and  foe,  of  the  world  and  the  Father, 
whom  He  obeys  not  otherwise  than  in  perfect 
freedom.  Everywhere  He  feels  and  manifests 
Himself  as  the  Son  of  the  house  who  is  free, 
and  makes  free  in  opposition  to  the  slaves  of 
sin."  2 

4.  The  encouragement  which  Christ  gave  to 
His  Disciples  to  approach  God  in  His  name  and 
confidently  to  expect  benefits  when  asking  in 
His  name,3  is  indicative  of  a  pronounced  con- 
sciousness of  entire  harmony  with  the  Father. 
It  is  not  conceivable  that  one  destitute  of  the 
assurance  that  He  was  the  well-beloved  Son 
of  the  heavenly  Father  could  invite  men  to 
such  heart-reliance  upon  Himself  in  their  ap- 
proaches to  God.  At  any  rate,  if  we  do  not 
suppose  in  Christ  a  luminous  understanding 
of  His  position  as  enshrined  in  the  compla- 
cent love  of  God,  we  must  charge  to  Him  a 
high  stretch  of  fanciful  enthusiasm — a  thing 
most  contrary,  as  will  be  shown  presently,  to 
the  extraordinary  mental  and  ethical  balance 
exhibited  by  the  Master. 

5.  Uniting  with  the  foregoing  elements  in 

aVan  Oosterzee,  "Dogmatics,"  p.  500. 

3  Matt,  xviii,   19,  20  ;   John  xiv,  13,  xv,  16,  xvi,  23,  26. 


84     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

a  harmonious  picture  of  a  sinless  personality 
we  have  Christ's  claim  to  be  the  judge  of  all 
men.  Where  should  the  consciousness  of  such 
an  office  reside  except  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who 
was  clearly  assured  that  there  was  no  ground 
of  adverse  judgment  against  Himself?  Ac- 
cordingly the  perfectly  unwavering  confidence 
of  Christ  that  in  some  high  sense  all  men  must 
answer  for  their  conduct  at  His  tribunal  makes 
a  specially  forceful  evidence.  By  all  the  war- 
rant we  have  for  imputing  to  Him  a  high  de- 
gree of  sobriety  and  self-knowledge  we  are  in- 
vited to  believe  that  sin  had  no  point  of  at- 
tachment in  Him. 

Historical  grounds  for  challenging  the  sin- 
lessness  of  Christ  are  of  trivial  consequence. 
They  are  properly  met  by  a  reasonable  sup- 
position as  to  the  tone  and  manner  which  ac- 
companied His  words,  by  a  consideration  of 
the  singular  authority  which  belonged  to  Him 
in  virtue  of  His  extraordinary  mission,  or  by 
a  due  estimate  of  the  occasions  of  righteous 
wrath  which  were  presented  in  the  course  of 
His  ministry.  His  words  respecting  the  Phari- 
sees were  undoubtedly  very  severe.  But  they 
were  deserved.  The  Pharisaism  of  that  day 
stood  for  an  extravagant  formalism  and  spirit 
of  exclusiveness.     It  deserved  to  be  smitten 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  85 

on  its  own  account,  and  the  example  of  its 
chastisement  was  needed  to  warn  every  com- 
pany of  men  disposed  haughtily  to  arrogate  a 
monopoly  of  spiritual  goods  that  such  a  thing 
is  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.  The 
intense  antipathy  of  Christ  toward  Pharisaic 
self-righteousness  must  be  regarded  as  per- 
fectly normal.  It  was,  too,  in  no  wise  contra- 
dictory to  gentleness.  The  scorching  rebuke 
did  not  testify  to  absence  of  love.  The  Phari- 
sees were  doubtless  included  among  the  chil- 
dren of  that  disobedient  Jerusalem  over  which 
the  Son  of  Man  pronounced  His  compassion- 
ate lament. 

Regarded  on  its  positive  side  the  moral  ideal 
implies  a  character  rounded  out  by  high  quali- 
ties subsisting  in  balanced  relation  with  one 
another.  That  in  Christ  there  was  an  unique 
balance  of  the  purest  and  loftiest  personal 
traits  must  strike  every  unbiased  reader  of  the 
gospel  story.4 

1.  We  notice  in  Him  a  peculiar  union  of 
meekness  and  strength.  He  called  Himself 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  the  description 
seems  to  have  been  justified.  Until  early  man- 
hood He  remained  in  subjection  to  parental 

*  On  this  point  the  author  deems  it  advisable  to  reproduce 
largely  from  the  exposition  given  in  his  "System  of  Christian  Doc- 
trine," Methodist  Book  Concern,  New  York. 


86     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

authority,  taking  no  advantage  of  any  presage 
of  His  Messianic  dignity  which  may  have 
found  a  place  in  His  consciousness.  He  en- 
tered upon  His  ministry  by  submitting  to  a 
consecratory  rite  at  the  hands  of  one  who 
himself  declared  that  he  was  not  worthy  to 
unloose  the  latchet  of  His  shoe.  Void  of  every 
trace  of  aristocratic  superiority  and  exclusive- 
ness  in  His  bearing,  He  was  ever  ready  for 
kindly  association  with  the  most  wretched  and 
despised.  While  He  accepted  unavoidable 
publicity,  He  repelled  ostentation.  To  work 
marvels  merely  as  marvels  was  utterly  repug- 
nant to  His  spirit.  He  would  not  respond  to 
calls  for  mere  display.  Compassion  and  love 
were  the  ruling  motives  in  all  His  mighty 
works. 

But  with  this  meekness  what  perfect  steadi- 
ness of  purpose  and  unconquerable  strength 
were  manifested  by  Christ.  In  His  speech 
there  was  an  air  of  singular  authority.  With 
all  His  reverence  toward  the  Old  Testament 
He  did  not  shun  to  mount  above  some  of  its 
precedents  and  set  them  aside  by  a  word  of 
higher  command.  While  He  had  the  mag- 
nanimity and  wisdom  to  accommodate  Himself 
to  the  age  in  all  respects  that  did  not  hazard 
the  permanent  interests  of  truth,  He  was  per- 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  87 

fectly  resolute  to  march  against  the  age,  to 
confront  its  frown,  its  mockery,  and  its  homi- 
cidal hatred,  where  otherwise  the  assertion  of 
principle  must  have  been  curtailed.  Through 
all  varieties  of  circumstance  He  bore  the  same 
lofty  consciousness  of  a  special  vocation  to 
mankind,  and  claimed  an  allegiance  to  which 
every  earthly  tie  must  be  made  secondary. 
Equally  remote  from  crude  force  and  from  all 
inclination  to  compromise  principle,  He  af- 
forded the  supreme  instance  of  the  reconcili- 
ation of  meekness  and  might. 

2.  Christ  exemplified  the  union  of  com- 
passion for  the  sinner  with  sharp  intolerance 
for  sin.  This  is  a  combination  which  lies  quite 
beyond  ordinary  abilities.  Almost  every  man 
who  gives  a  loose  rein  to  a  compassionate  in- 
terest in  the  sinful  and  the  abandoned  is  very 
apt  to  be  driven  into  making  unguarded  al- 
lowances for  them ;  and  not  only  that,  he  is  in 
danger,  as  respects  inward  feeling,  of  falling 
below  the  standard  of  that  intense  repulsion 
which  ought  to  be  felt  toward  all  unright- 
eousness. On  the  other  hand,  if  he  endeavors  to 
pay  the  full  debt  of  genuine  hatred  toward 
sin,  he  is  liable  to  repel  the  sinner  also,  and  to 
lose  the  attitude  of  the  brother  in  that  of  the 
censor.     It  does  not  appear  to  have  been  so 


88      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

with  Christ.  Certainly  we  cannot  imagine  a 
being  more  tenderly  compassionate  toward  the 
sinful,  more  warmly  sympathetic  toward  the 
unworthy  who  were  ready  to  strive  for  better 
things.  He  could  fitly  apply  to  Himself  the 
prophetic  picture  of  one  who  should  not  break 
the  bruised  reed  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax. 

But  at  the  same  time  it  is  not  possible  to 
imagine  a  being  more  intolerant  of  sin  than 
was  Christ.  He  goes  back  of  the  outward  act 
and  raises  a  judgment-seat  over  the  inward 
motion  and  disposition.  He  arraigns  intem- 
perate and  unfounded  anger  as  approximate  to 
the  guilt  of  murder.  He  brands  the  unchaste 
desire  which  follows  the  glance  as  having  al- 
ready the  stain  of  adultery.  As  if  He  would 
project  something  of  His  own  antipathy  to 
evil  into  His  disciples,  He  exhorts  them  in 
words  of  burning  intensity,  "If  thy  right  eye 
causeth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck  it  out  and  cast 
it  from  thee.  And  if  thy  right  hand  causeth 
thee  to  stumble,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from 
thee."  5 

3.  We  observe  in  Christ  a  remarkable 
union  of  spirituality  with  kindly  contact  with 
the  world.  No  one  can  think  of  His  life  except 
as  profoundly  unworldly  in  tone.     It  seems 

8  Matt,    v,   29,   30. 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  89 

scarcely  to  have  been  touched  at  all  by  the  or- 
dinary ambitions  of  men.  His  whole  teaching 
indicates  how  lightly  He  trod  upon  the  face 
of  this  temporal  world,  and  how  truly  the 
spiritual  realm  was  His  real  home.  We  see 
this  in  his  exhortation  to  lay  up  treasure  in 
heaven,  to  renounce  anxious  cares  about  the 
stores  which  the  morrow  may  bring,  to  regard 
well  the  danger  of  losing  the  life  by  saving  it 
merely  to  temporal  weal,  and  to  estimate  the 
recording  of  one's  name  in  heaven  as  the  su- 
preme cause  for  rejoicing. 

Nevertheless,  the  life  of  Christ  gives  no  im- 
pression of  asceticism  or  monastic  austerity. 
We  never  see  Him  standing  with  a  scourge 
over  the  body;  He  heals  instead  of  mutilat- 
ing. We  never  hear  Him  denouncing  the  ma- 
terial world  as  unclean  and  allied  with  Satan. 
He  treats  it  rather  as  the  workmanship  of  His 
Father's  hands,  and  uses  it  as  a  book  of  di- 
vinity from  which  to  read  off  to  His  hearers 
beautiful  and  comforting  messages  of  truth. 
He  subordinates  undoubtedly  the  temporal 
world  to  the  spiritual,  but  He  stands  in  a  re- 
lation of  harmony  with  the  former  as  well  as 
with  the  latter.  In  His  spirit  and  way  of 
thinking  a  solution  is  afforded  to  that  most 


90     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

difficult  problem,  the  reconciliation  of  the  two 
worlds. 

4.  In  Christ  we  find  deep  human  sensibility 
blended  with  elements  of  personal  grandeur. 
Many  pages  of  the  Gospels  show  that  His 
chosen  title,  "Son  of  Man,"  was  entirely  ap- 
propriate. The  spring  of  human  sympathies 
in  Him  was  deep  and  abundant.  So  testify 
His  affectionate  discourses  to  His  disciples, 
His  embracement  and  blessing  of  little  chil- 
dren, His  compassion  for  the  fasting  multi- 
tude, His  intimacy  with  the  family  at  Bethany, 
His  tears  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus,  His  desire 
that  chosen  friends  should  be  near  Him  in  the 
time  of  His  agony  in  the  garden,  and  His  ten- 
der words  spoken  from  the  cross  commending 
His  mother  to  the  care  of  a  faithful  disciple. 

But  with  all  this  brotherliness  and  human 
sensibility,  how  far  He  stood  above  the  ordi- 
nary plane,  in  religious  confidence,  in  conscious 
dignity,  and  in  the  grandeur  of  His  personal 
outlook!  Without  seeming  effort  He  touched 
the  highest  things  of  the  divine  kingdom.  He 
talked  as  though  He  veritably  knew  the  Father 
and  by  right  of  position  and  nature  was  the 
channel  for  revealing  Him  to  men.  He  in- 
vited men  to  a  confidence  in  Himself  which 
implied  the  most  undoubting  assurance  that 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  91 

right  relation  to  Himself  could  mean  nothing 
less  than  heirship  to  the  best  gifts  which  God 
has  to  bestow.  He  viewed  the  future  with  a 
perfectly  triumphant  expectation,  as  though 
already  He  realized  that  He  held  in  His 
hand  the  scepter  over  its  issues.  Though 
on  the  way  to  crucifixion,  without  a  soldier  or 
statesman  in  His  retinue,  He  looked  with  se- 
rene confidence  toward  the  throne  of  a  king- 
dom, before  whose  extent  and  glory  all  earthly 
dominion  sinks  into  insignificance. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  union  of  hu- 
man sensibility  with  some  degree  of  grandeur 
in  the  inner  life  belongs  to  the  moral  ideal  as 
enshrined  in  an  earthly  career.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  not  so  clear  that  the  full  height  of 
self-consciousness  revealed  in  Christ  can  be 
regarded  as  unequivocally  demanded  by  that 
ideal  taken  by  itself.  This  fact,  however,  can- 
not be  regarded  as  opposing  the  claim  for 
Christ  which  our  argument  strives  to  establish. 
The  unique  balance  in  Him  of  the  finest  human 
traits  so  testifies  to  His  mental  clearness  and 
sobriety  that  it  becomes  the  rational  alternative 
to  believe  that  the  high  range  of  consciousness 
which  He  exemplified,  instead  of  savoring  in 
any  wise  of  intemperate  enthusiasm,  was  ac- 
cordant with  truth  and  fact.     Moreover,  it  is 


92     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  be  noticed  that  one  so  singular  in  character 
as  to  be  the  moral  ideal  might  properly  be  ex- 
pected to  be  so  singular  also  in  vocation  and 
in  special  divine  relations  as  to  transcend  in 
His  inner  vision  and  experience  the  ordinary 
range  of  human  consciousness.  The  appear- 
ance of  such  a  personality  in  a  sinful  race  can- 
not reasonably  be  regarded  as  an  accident. 
His  coming  must  have  been  to  realize  a  lofty 
divine  purpose.  His  exceptional  consciousness 
but  matches  the  exceptional  vocation,  to  the 
fact  of  which  His  very  appearing  testifies. 

We  find  then  the  positive,  as  well  as  the 
negative  conditions  of  the  moral  ideal  to  have 
been  wonderfully  met  in  Christ.  In  His  stain- 
less and  rounded  perfection  He  stands  forth 
as  the  incomparable  marvel  of  human  history. 

//:     Christ  as  Teacher  or  Revealer 

Joining  the  thought  of  the  moral  ideal  with 
that  of  a  special  vocation  we  come  to  the  second 
distinctive  character  in  Christ  which  appears, 
that  of  the  authoritative  teacher,  revealer,  or 
interpreter  of  spiritual  verities.  As  an  en- 
dowment with  poetical  sentiment  enables  a 
man  to  be  peculiarly  responsive  to  the  mes- 
sage which  nature  offers,  so  the  possession  of 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  93 

holy  character  by  Christ  qualified  Him  in  a 
peculiar  degree  to  receive  the  message  of  the 
spiritual  world.  As  the  ideal  citizen  He  was 
specially  prepared  to  understand  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  kingdom.  As  the  ideal  Son,  per- 
fectly submitted  to  the  will  of  the  Father  and 
perfectly  sympathetic  with  His  purposes,  He 
was  uniquely  qualified  to  apprehend  the  mind 
of  the  Father,  and  to  see  clearly  the  directions 
of  His  designs  in  connection  with  mankind. 
But  this  was  not  all.  As  was  noted  above,  the 
appearance  of  the  exceptional  personality  can- 
not well  be  taken  as  anything  less  than  a  dis- 
tinct sign  of  an  exceptionally  lofty  and  im- 
portant vocation.  Now  the  fact  of  an  ex- 
traordinary vocation  certainly  suggests,  if  it 
does  not  require,  the  thought  of  an  extraor- 
dinary communication  from  the  divine  side. 
It  is  perfectly  consonant  with  the  conclusion 
that  Christ  was  called  to  be  the  light  of  the 
world,  and  to  mark  out  for  all  time  the  path- 
way of  the  true  life,  to  suppose  that  superior 
sources  of  illumination  were  vouchsafed  to 
Him.  If  we  are  to  give  any  place  to  the  idea 
that  divine  light  has  shone  into  the  minds  of 
the  prophets  and  leaders  of  the  race,  we  can 
but  conclude  that  in  an  extraordinary  meas- 
ure divine  light  was  vouchsafed  to  the  Christ 


94     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

who  had  the  loftiest  and  most  important  voca- 
tion to  fulfill.  We  may  think  of  Him,  there- 
fore, as  qualified  for  the  office  of  revealer,  not 
merely  by  the  high  range  of  intuition  which 
naturally  belonged  to  His  holy  manhood,  but 
by  a  full  measure  of  communication  from  the 
resources  of  divine  wisdom.  The  New  Testa- 
ment writers  recognize  this  point  of  view,  as 
for  instance  in  the  statement  that  the  Father 
showeth  the  Son  all  things  that  Himself 
doeth.6 

In  noting  the  distinctive  features  of  Christ's 
teaching  we  may  appropriately  emphasize  the 
close  and  harmonious  relation  which  it  affirms 
between  the  demands  of  morality  or  ethics  and 
the  requirements  of  religion.7  The  Gospels 
emphatically  exclude  the  notion  that  the  latter 
can  ever  be  accepted  as  a  substitute  for  the 
former,  or  that  any  kind  of  so-called  religious 
performance  can  take  the  place  of  honesty  and 
kindness  in  dealing  with  one's  fellows.  Stress 
upon  the  ethical  appears  at  every  turn.  It 
appears  in  blessings  pronounced  upon  the 
merciful  and  the  peace-makers;  in  the  strong 
condemnation  uttered  against  anger  and  in- 
temperate railing;  in  the  requirement  to  be 

9  John   v,   20. 

7  We  use  in  this  connection  nearly  the  same  terms  as  we  have 
employed  in  our  "New  Testament  Theology"  (pp.  68-70).  The 
Macmillan  Company,  New  York. 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  95 

first  reconciled,  so  far  as  possible,  with  one's 
brother,  before  approaching  God's  altar;  in 
the  demand  for  a  chastity  which  imposes  full 
restraint  upon  the  thoughts  and  the  desires ;  in 
the  inculcation  of  a  charity  and  good  will, 
which  are  broad  and  earnest  enough  to  go  out 
not  merely  to  friends  but  to  enemies  also;  in 
the  instruction  that  consistent  and  effectual 
prayer  for  divine  forgiveness  must  be  accom- 
panied by  the  spirit  of  forgiveness  towards 
those  who  have  trespassed  against  us;  in  in- 
sistence upon  transparent  sincerity  and  single- 
ness of  purpose;  in  reprobation  of  that  haste 
in  judgment  which  leads  one  to  rebuke  the 
faults  of  his  fellows  before  taking  time  to  dis- 
cover his  own;  in  emphasis  upon  the  duty  to 
order  conduct  toward,  others  as  one  would 
wish  to  have  conduct  ordered  toward  himself; 
in  placing  alongside  the  supreme  obligation  of 
a  man  the  requirement  to  love  his  neighbor  as 
himself.  This  profound  stress  upon  the  ethi- 
cal appears,  moreover,  in  the  whole  attitude  of 
Christ  toward  the  Pharisaic  model.  Nothing 
plainly  was  more  abhorrent  to  His  mind  than 
the  rating  of  ceremonial  scrupulosity  above 
carefulness  to  fulfill  the  common  duties  spring- 
ing out  of  the  relation  of  man  to  man.  Mere 
ritual,  or  ecclesiastical  performance,  divorced 


96     THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

from  ethical  living,  and  depended  upon  as  a 
means  of  capturing  God's  favor,  He  regarded 
as  a  travesty  of  true  religion,  something  to  be 
likened  to  a  whitewashed  sepulcher.  Indeed, 
it  may  truly  be  said  that  the  acme  of  all  the 
righteous  indignation  ever  expressed  by  Christ 
was  directed  against  casting  ethical  demands 
into  the  shade  in  favor  of  performances  im- 
properly dignified  with  the  name  of  religion. 

On  the  other  hand,  Christ  was  very  remote 
from  substituting  morality,  as  commonly  un- 
derstood, for  religion.  As  clearly  as  He  held 
in  view  the  ethical  province,  so  clearly  he  rec- 
ognized the  all-encompassing  presence  of  the 
divine.  The  thought  of  the  heavenly  Father 
was  to  Him  as  the  sun  in  the  sky.  With  the 
prophets  of  Israel  He  taught  that  the  foremost 
requirement  is  that  of  loving  God  with  all  the 
heart,  mind,  soul,  and  strength.  Spiritual  vic- 
tory He  regarded  as  dependent  upon  cleaving 
closely  to  God ;  and  the  path  to  true  peace  and 
superiority  to  earthly  trouble  which  He  set 
before  men  was  the  path  of  self-committal  to 
God,  and  of  simple  trust  in  His  minute,  un- 
ceasing care.  From  first  to  last  in  the  teach- 
ing of  Christ  there  is  no  suggestion  but  that 
the  true  life  for  man  is  one  insphered  in  the 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  97 

thought  of  God  and  in  the  grateful  conscious- 
ness of  His  presence. 

There  is  little  occasion  to  remark  that  the 
inseparable  union  between  morality  and  reli- 
gion, exemplified  in  the  teaching  of  Christ,  is 
of  profound  significance.  Religion  runs  into 
artificiality  and  caricature  when  separated 
from  morality  or  only  loosely  associated  there- 
with. Moral  life  tends  to  meagerness  and 
superficiality  when  deprived  of  the  vitalizing 
and  ennobling  impulses  which  come  from  the 
thought  of  divine  associations.  The  demand 
of  health  for  the  individual  and  the  community 
is  the  harmonious  combination  of  the  two.  It 
is  no  inferior  tribute,  therefore,  to  the  office 
of  Christ  as  revealer  which  appears  in  the  fact 
that  He  so  profoundly  accentuated  the  union 
of  morality  and  religion. 

Again  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  ideal  which 
Christ  sets  before  men,  though  very  lofty,  is 
yet  thoroughly  human.  It  has  an  appearance 
of  being  made  for  a  real  world,  and  real  hu- 
man beings.  The  disciple  is  not  called  to  walk 
in  strange  paths,  or  to  expect  transformations 
that  do  violence  to  the  demands  of  personal 
identity.  Nowhere  in  Christ's  words  will  he 
find  a  hint  that  union  with  God  implies  a 
swamping  of  self-consciousness,  or  a  species 


98      THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  annihilation,  such  as  is  involved  in  the  Neo- 
Platonic  doctrine  of  ecstasy  and  the  Brahmani- 
cal  doctrine  of  reabsorption.  Nowhere  will  he 
hear  a  summons  to  lose  himself  save  in  the 
sense  Of  a  sane  absorption  in  the  pursuit  of 
great,  holy,  and  benevolent  ends.  Indeed  the 
tendency  of  Christ's  teaching  is  to  make  the 
man  who  truly  appropriates  it  at  home  both 
with  himself  and  with  God.  It  rebukes  noth- 
ing that  is  purely  and  truly  human  in  men, 
and  only  asks  that  the  human  should  come  to 
its  best  by  standing  in  the  transfiguring  light 
of  intimate  association  with  the  divine.  It  is 
equally  free  from  false  asceticism  and  fanci- 
ful mysticism.  While  thoroughly  sane  and 
practical  it  is  far  from  being  prosaic  or  com- 
monplace. 

In  any  full  exposition  of  Christ's  office  as 
revealer  it  would  be  necessary  to  consider  the 
light  which  He  has  cast  upon  the  character  of 
God  and  upon  the  subject  of  the  immortal 
life.  But  having  occasion  to  treat  of  these  top- 
ics in  other  connections  we  pass  on  to  notice 
the  relation  which  the  miracles  of  Christ  hold 
to  His  office  as  the  authoritative  revealer  or 
expositor  of  spiritual  verities. 

And  here  distinct  notice  needs  to  be  made 
of  the  truth  that  a  main  element  in  the  credi- 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  99 

bility  of  the  miracles  ascribed  to  Christ  con- 
sists precisely  in  their  harmonious  relation  to 
the  office  which  He  fulfilled  as  revealer.  Re- 
ports of  miracles,  it  may  be  said  in  general, 
are  not  excluded  by  any  absolute  improba- 
bility, provided  it  be  admitted  that  there  is  a 
personal  God  back  of  nature,  who  holds  to  it 
a  free  relation  and  uses  it  as  an  instrument. 
Nature  may  be  a  peculiarly  comprehensive  in- 
strument, but  if  it  is  only  an  instrument,  it 
is  quite  conceivable  that  God  may  show  His 
free  relation  to  it  by  working  at  one  point 
or  another  a  departure  from  its  ordinary 
course.  To  do  so  would  not  endanger  in  the 
least  the  integrity  of  the  system  of  nature. 
Even  men  as  free  agents  can  produce  manifold 
changes  in  the  sphere  of  nature  which  her  own 
laws  left  to  themselves  would  never  bring 
about,  without  at  the  same  time  working  the 
least  damage  to  a  single  natural  law.  Much 
more  can  the  God  who  holds  the  universe  of 
things  in  His  hands  intervene  by  His  power  to 
work  a  change  which,  though  outside  the  regu- 
lar course  of  nature,  induces  no  sign  of  breach 
or  catastrophe  in  her  system. 

The  only  real  question,  then,  relative  to  the 
possibility  of  a  miraculous  working  is  the  ques- 
tion of  sufficient  motive.     Now,  it  may  be 


100   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

granted  that  there  seems  to  be  good  reason, 
even  though  nature  be  viewed  as  subordinate 
to  the  kingdom  of  moral  persons,  why  in  gen- 
eral the  divine  administration  should  conserve 
the  regular  operation  of  her  laws,  or  abstain 
from  miraculous  interventions  in  their  sphere. 
A  steadfast  system  of  laws  is  not  only  a  great 
instrument  in  man's  intellectual  and  industrial 
development,  but  also  in  his  moral  discipline. 
It  is  good  for  him  to  be  under  the  yoke  of  na- 
ture and  to  be  required  to  conform  to  her  im- 
perative demands.  This  order  of  subjection 
helps  to  school  him  for  that  high  citizenship  to 
which  he  is  called  as  a  member  of  the  divine 
kingdom.  But  if  there  is  great  educative  vir- 
tue in  such  an  instrumentality  as  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature,  it  is  also  true  that  the  extraor- 
dinary may  have  a  special  educative  virtue. 
By  the  very  fact  that  it  is  out  of  the  ordinary 
course,  an  infrequent  and  remarkable  event, 
it  may  serve  to  awaken  attention  and  bring 
men  to  a  vivid  sense  of  the  presence  and  agency 
of  the  unseen  Person  on  whom  they  depend. 
Set  over  against  a  steadfast  or  relatively  stead- 
fast, system  of  nature,  the  miracle  may  con- 
ceivably be  an  effective  means  of  tuition.  It  is 
not,  therefore,  to  be  challenged  as  in  itself  in- 
credible.   But,  on  the  other  hand,  its  credibil- 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  101 

ity  is  not  independent  of  its  educative  value. 
Better  to  let  the  course  of  nature,  with  its  in- 
dubitable educational  value,  stand  without  ap- 
parent interruption,  than  to  superinduce  a 
miracle  which  does  not,  under  the  given  condi- 
tions, provide  a  higher  treasure  of  discipline 
or  education.  A  reputed  miracle  which  is 
linked  with  no  high  message,  which  does  not 
carry  up  the  mind  naturally  to  truths  which 
are  healthful  and  inspiring  to  contemplate,  is 
not  adapted  to  win  rational  faith.  It  appears 
too  much  in  the  character  of  a  mere  eccen- 
tricity to  seem  worthy  of  divine  agency.  If 
awarded  any  measure  of  credence,  it  must  be 
on  the  basis  of  an  extraordinary  weight  of 
testimony,  and  even  then  it  must  be  taken 
rather  as  an  unavoidable  burden  than  a  felt 
benediction. 

The  gospel  miracles  have  in  general  a  special 
claim  upon  faith  as  meeting  in  a  high  degree 
the  test  of  educative  value.  Seen  in  their  true 
character  they  appear  as  something  more  than 
the  mere  credentials  of  a  divine  messenger. 
They  contributed  to  the  message  itself.  They 
pictured  in  visible  deeds  the  same  truths  which 
Christ  proclaimed  by  word  of  mouth.  Divine 
benevolence  and  compassion  shine  through 
them.    They  are  a  perennial  source  of  instruc- 


102    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tion  and  a  perpetual  incentive  to  religious  trust 
and  confidence.  In  one  point  of  view  they 
have  a  better  significance  for  us  than  for  the 
groups  which  witnessed  them;  for,  having  be- 
fore us  a  picture  of  the  completed  life  of  Christ, 
we  are  better  prepared  than  were  those  about 
Him  to  see  the  harmonious  relation  in  which 
His  deeds  of  power  stand  to  His  Person  and 
teaching.  Had  not  the  deeds  of  power  been 
at  the  same  time  harmonious  elements  of  reve- 
lation, a  severe  strain  would  have  been  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  testimony  in  their  behalf.  As 
it  is,  we  are  prepared  to  receive  without  preju- 
dice the  cogent  testimony  which  bespeaks 
faith  in  Christ's  miraculous  deeds.  Fitting 
as  congruous  features  into  a  biography  whose 
unique  characteristics  have  compelled  even  men 
of  skeptical  temper  to  confess  that  they  must 
have  been  copied  from  actual  life,  they  have 
a  firm  basis  in  the  apostolic  testimony  which 
was  undoubtedly  the  primary  ground  of  the 
written  reports  of  them  contained  in  the  New 
Testament. 

Ill:     The  Work  of  Christ  as  Redeemer 

The    preceding    themes    have    afforded    a 
measure  of  preparation  for  the  contemplation 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  103 

of  Christ  as  Redeemer,  Saviour,  or  Reconciler. 
In  actualizing  the  moral  ideal,  in  teaching  the 
great  truths  which  relate  to  God  and  His 
kingdom,  and  in  illustrating  by  a  matchless 
example  the  life  of  sonship  toward  God  and 
of  self-sacrificing  brotherly  interest  in  men, 
He  became  a  redemptive  power,  a  spring  of 
saving  influence  in  the  midst  of  the  race.  Our 
present  theme,  therefore,  must  be  regarded  as 
inclusive  of  much  that  has  already  claimed  our 
attention.  In  treating  it  we  attempt  only  a 
brief  statement  of  the  main  points. 

1.  However  much  or  little  of  a  philoso- 
phy of  redemption  is  contained  in  the  New 
Testament  writings,  no  one  can  fail  to  see  that 
these  writings  profoundly  emphasize  the  fact 
that  a  work  of  redemption,  salvation,  or  rec- 
onciliation has  been  accomplished  in  and 
through  Christ.  With  unceasing  repetition, 
and  in  great  variety  of  phrase,  they  summon 
to  faith  in  Christ  as  the  Redeemer  or  Saviour 
of  men.  He  is  reported  as  declaring  of  Him- 
self that  He  came  to  give  His  lif e  a  ransom  for 
many,  to  shed  His  blood  for  the  remission  of 
sins,  to  be  lifted  up  that  He  might  draw  all 
men  unto  Himself.  It  is  said  of  Him  that 
He  tasted  death  for  every  man ;  that  He  was 
delivered  up  for  us  all;  that  He  gave  Himself 


104    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

for  our  sins;  that  He  bore  the  sins  of  many; 
that  He  made  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the 
people ;  that  He  gave  Himself  up  for  an  offer- 
ing and  a  sacrifice ;  that  He  was  manifested  to 
put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself;  that 
through  Him  we  have  our  redemption,  the 
forgiveness  of  our  trespasses.  He  is  described 
as  the  one  through  whom  we  are  reconciled  mito 
God  and  receive  His  free  gift  of  justification; 
as  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sin 
of  the  world;  as  the  source  of  the  purity  sym- 
bolized by  the  white  robes  of  the  victors  in 
heaven;  as  the  one  mediator  between  God  and 
man ;  as  the  advocate  with  the  Father  and  the 
propitiation  for  sins;  as  the  way  by  which 
alone  any  man  cometh  unto  the  Father;  as 
having  the  only  name  under  heaven  wherein 
we  must  be  saved ;  as  being  the  foundation  for 
which  there  is  no  substitute;  as  giving  power 
to  all  receiving  Him  to  become  the  children  of 
God ;  as  the  bearer  of  eternal  life,  the  author  to 
all  that  obey  Him  of  eternal  salvation.  Many 
similar  expressions  might  be  added.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  thought  of  the  saving 
office  of  Christ  is  woven  into  the  texture  of  the 
New  Testament.8 

8  See  Matt,  xx,  28  ;  Luke  xxiv,  46,  47  ;  John  iii,  14,  15,  x,  11, 
17,  18;  Heb.  ii,  9;  Luke  xxii,  19,  20;  Rom.  v,  6,  8,  viii,  32; 
1  Cor.  xv,  3 ;  2  Cor.  v,  14,  15,  21  ;  Gal.  i,  4 ;  Heb.  ix,  27,  28 ; 
1  Pet.  ii,  24  ;  Rev.  vii,  9,   13,   14  ;  John  i,  29  ;   Heb.   ii,  17  ;  Eph. 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  105 

2.  While  the  Scriptures  are  much  more 
occupied  with  asserting  the  fact  of  Christ's  sav- 
ing office  than  with  defining  its  ground  or 
method,  they  do  make  it  plain  that  there  is 
no  propriety  in  drawing  a  contrast  between 
Christ  and  the  Father  in  respect  of  their  rela- 
tion toward  the  sinful  race.  No  hint  is  given 
that  the  Son  needed  by  His  self-immolation  to 
constrain  the  Father  to  grace  and  compassion. 
Nowhere  is  it  said  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son 
was  a  procuring  cause  of  the  love  of  God  to 
sinners.  On  the  contrary,  the  scriptural  repre- 
sentation is  that  it  was  out  of  His  abounding 
love  to  men  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son.  The 
imagination  which  dissociates  or  contrasts 
the  two  is  thoroughly  unbiblical.  It  strikes 
also  against  the  reason  of  the  case.  The 
Father  by  virtue  of  His  boundless  love  for  the 
Son  must  have  shared  His  sacrifice.  While 
the  one  was  nailed  to  the  visible  wood  the  other 
must  have  had  the  cross  in  His  heart. 

3.  We  are  not  required  to  think  that  pain 
in  itself  is  any  source  of  gratification  to  God, 
or  that  the  efficacy  of  Christ's  work  depended 
upon  the  mere  amount  of  pain  endured.     It 

v.  2;  Matt,  xxvi,  28;  Rom.  v,  10,  11.  18,  19;  Eph.  i,  7,  ii,  13; 
Col.  i,  21,  22;  1  Cor.  vi,  19,  20;  Gal.  iii,  13;  Col.  i,  13,  14; 
1  Tim.  ii,  5,  6;  Heb.  ix,  11,  12;  1  Pet.  i,  18,  19;  Rev.  v,  9,  10; 
Rom.  iii,  24-26  ;  1  John  ii,  1,  2  ;  John  xiv,  6  ;  Acts  iv,  12,  n,  32, 
33  ;  John  xiv,  26,  i,  12  ;  iii,  36 ;  Rom.  vi,  23 ;  1  John  v,  11,  12  ; 
1  Cor.  i,  30,  xv,  21,  22  ;  Heb.  v,  9  ;  John  iii,  16  ;  1  John  iv,  9,  10. 


106  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

is  by  a  very  intelligible  rhetorical  expedient 
that  scriptural  language  is  so  full  of  reference 
to  the  sufferings,  the  death,  and  the  shed  blood 
of  Christ.  Herein  were  supplied  the  most 
striking  and  affecting  symbols  of  the  ethical 
values  contained  in  His  life-work.  Did  that 
life-work  embody  the  purest  expression  of 
love,  the  most  complete  self-devotement,  the 
most  steadfast  and  unswerving  obedience  to 
holy  law  in  all  the  range  of  its  application? 
Then,  to  point  to  the  humiliation  and  suffering 
undergone  was  the  practical  way  to  set  forth 
in  a  vivid  manner  the  greatness  of  these  ethical 
values.  What  the  Son  of  God  was  willing  to 
endure  and  did  endure  gave  an  apprehensible 
measure  of  the  love,  of  the  self-devotement, 
and  of  the  holy  obedience.  This  explains 
why  in  sacred  oratory  the  stress  runs  so  largely 
to  Christ's  passion.  But  evidently  in  reflective 
thought  it  would  be  reversing  the  true  order  to 
place  the  sign  and  the  measure  above  the  things 
signified  and  measured.  The  former  were  in- 
deed important  in  the  line  of  manifestation, 
but  the  latter  were  indispensable  in  the  most 
fundamental  sense.  The  means  of  manifesta- 
tion, namely  the  suffering  and  the  shed  blood, 
would  have  been  nugatory  without  the  high 
ethical  values — the  love,  the  righteousness,  the 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  107 

spirit  of  sacrifice,  and  the  holy  obedience — 
which  needed  to  be  manifested.  Glimpses  of 
this  point  of  view  are  not  wanting  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. Christ  Himself  represented  His  death 
not  merely  as  an  ordeal  visited  upon  Him, 
but  as  a  deed  of  love  and  self-devotement,  an 
experience  which  indeed  He  was  not  called 
upon  to  precipitate,  but  which  yet  He  fore- 
saw and  welcomed  as  a  part  of  His  mission. 
Paul  also  directs  attention  to  the  ethical  value 
of  Christ's  sufferings,  characterizing  His 
righteous  obedience  as  the  offset  to  man's  dis- 
obedience, and  describing  His  death  as  the 
crowning  expression  of  that  obedience.  "He 
humbled  Himself,  becoming  obedient  unto 
death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross."  9 

4.  There  is  no  ground  for  questioning  the 
redemptive  or  reconciling  virtue  of  Christ's 
work  subjectively  considered,  or  in  respect  of 
salutary  influence  upon  men.  Whether  the 
so-called  subjective  theories  contain  the  whole 
truth  or  not,  they  certainly  contain  truth  that 
must  be  placed  in  the  front  line  of  every  worthy 
exposition  of  this  theme.  The  manifestation 
of  the  pure  and  lofty  personality  of  Christ, 
His  proclamation  of  the  patient,  generous, 
seeking  love  of  God,  His  imaging  forth  of 

"Phil,  ii,  8. 


108  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

that  love  by  the  whole  tenor  of  His  words  and 
deeds,  and  especially  by  His  readiness  to  de- 
scend to  the  lowest  depths  and  to  drink  the  bit- 
terest cup  of  sorrow — all  this  is  an  object  les- 
son which  has  perennial  efficacy  to  awaken 
the  attention  of  men,  to  rebuke  their  sin,  to 
show  them  the  beauty  of  God's  relation  to 
them,  to  elicit  their  hope  and  confidence,  to 
win  their  hearts.  Christ  is  a  redemptive  po- 
tency in  the  world  through  the  illuminating 
and  persuasive  power  of  the  divine  manifesta- 
tion made  in  and  through  Him. 

5.  While  it  would  be  a  great  fault  to  push 
into  the  background  the  aspect  of  Christ's  re- 
demptive work  just  described,  a  question  may 
be  raised  as  to  whether  an  objective  bearing  is 
not  to  be  conjoined  therewith;  in  other  words, 
whether  the  work  of  Christ,  besides  being  a 
means  of  salutary  influence  upon  men,  was 
not  in  some  sense  a  condition,  on  the  divine 
side,  of  the  economy  or  scheme  of  universal 
grace,  and  of  its  open  publication  to  the  world. 
A  review  of  scriptural  data  will  show  that 
something  can  be  said  in  favor  of  an  affirmative 
conclusion.  In  the  first  place  the  representa- 
tion of  Christ's  death  as  having  an  import  for 
the  whole  race  leans  to  this  side.  Great  num- 
bers of  men,  so  far  as  our  knowledge  goes, 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  109 

have  no  opportunity  to  know  of  Christ,  so  as 
to  be  benefited  by  the  salutary  influence 
emanating  from  the  revelation  made  in  Him. 
When,  therefore,  scriptural  writers  speak  of 
Him  as  tasting  death  for  every  man,  the  mean- 
ing of  their  words  is  not  clear,  unless  it  be 
assumed  that  they  thought  of  men  as  standing 
in  a  universal  economy  of  grace  by  reason  of 
the  work  of  Christ  who  gave  His  life  for  them. 
The  description  of  Him  as  the  one  mediator 
between  God  and  man  and  the  statement  that 
no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  except  by 
Him  may  be  taken  as  implying  not  merely  that 
He  is  a  conspicuous  agent  of  divine  grace,  but 
that  the  general  dispensation  of  divine  grace 
is  conditioned  upon  His  person  and  work. 
An  equivalent  import  may  be  attached  to  the 
words  which  speak  of  justification  as  being 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus ; 
of  the  peace  of  God  as  being  attained  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  of  men,  while  yet 
enemies  as  being  reconciled  unto  God  by  the 
death  of  His  Son.  Furthermore  the  signifi- 
cance which  the  New  Testament  writers  prob- 
ably attached  to  sacrifices,  as  means  of  sym- 
bolizing the  covering  of  sins,  may  be  regarded 
as  implying  that  in  their  references  to  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  they  thought  of  it  as  enter- 


110   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ing  into  the  basis  of  salvation,  or  into  the 
ground  of  its  possibility,  and  not  merely  as 
qualified  to  influence  men  toward  salvation  by 
giving  a  wholesome  impulse  to  thought  and 
feeling.  Once  more,  New  Testament  lan- 
guage invites  to  a  repose  in  Christ  which,  it 
may  be  said,  agrees  with  the  supposition  that 
the  economy  of  grace  was  in  some  sense 
founded  in  Him  and  not  merely  revealed 
through  Him. 

6.  Accepting  the  probability  that  the  New 
Testament  writers  attributed  an  objective  bear- 
ing to  Christ's  work  of  redemption  or  atone- 
ment— in  the  sense  of  regarding  that  work  as 
meeting  a  condition,  on  the  divine  side,  of  hu- 
man salvation — we  add  a  few  words  on  the 
proper  interpretation  of  the  bearing  in  ques- 
tion. As  already  stated,  it  is  entirely  inad- 
missible to  think  of  Christ's  work  as  a  procur- 
ing cause  of  God's  love.  If,  then,  that  work 
is  to  be  regarded  as  really  a  condition,  on  the 
divine  side,  of  a  general  economy  of  grace,  it 
must  be  regarded  as  expressing  a  condition 
which  pertains  simply  to  the  method  of  love. 
The  love  of  God  itself  is  to  be  viewed  as  in- 
finite and  eternal.  But  God  is  infinitely 
righteous  as  well  as  infinitely  loving.  As  His 
attributes  always  subsist  in  perfect  harmony, 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  111 

the  method  of  love  must  always  respect  the 
claims  of  righteousness.  This  is  no  disadvan- 
tage to  love,  since  it  seeks  the  best  good  of  the 
universe,  and  nothing  contrary  to  the  interests 
of  righteousness  can  be  for  the  good  of  the 
universe.  It  is  not  incredible,  then,  that  in  the 
plan  for  the  rescue  of  a  sinful  race — the  plan 
formed  in  eternity — the  interests  of  righteous- 
ness as  well  as  the  promptings  of  love  were 
consulted,  and  it  was  determined  that  the  very 
One  who  should  be  the  bearer  of  the  message 
of  love  should  also  supremely  illustrate  the 
claims  of  righteousness  by  His  perfect  loyalty 
in  the  midst  of  sinners,  His  victory  over 
every  besetment,  His  unmeasured  self-devote- 
ment,  His  obedience  even  unto  death,  yea, 
the  death  of  the  cross.  In  other  words,  the 
Christ  of  Calvary  was  put  into  the  eternal  plan 
of  God  in  relation  to  the  race  as  the  perfectly 
fitting  means  to  fulfill  the  harmonious  demands 
of  both  love  and  righteousness.  In  so  far  as 
the  latter  order  of  demands  is  viewed  as  a 
necessary  accompaniment  of  the  former,  the 
work  of  Christ  which  reveals  and  exalts  it  is 
viewed  as  necessary,  and  takes  rank  on  the  di- 
vine side  as  a  condition  of  a  general  economy 
of  grace,  or  as  an  indispensable  factor  in  such 
an  economy. 


112   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

In  this  view  there  is  no  hint  of  a  change  of 
disposition  in  God.  Since  the  claims  of  His 
righteousness  as  well  as  those  of  His  love 
were  consulted  in  the  economy  or  plan  of 
grace  instituted  in  eternity,  He  is  to  be 
thought  of  as  maintaining  through  all  history 
one  self -consistent  disposition  toward  the  race. 
He  has  always  viewed  it  not  simply  as  a  race 
of  sinners,  but  as  a  race  incorporating  in  itself 
His  well-beloved  Son  and  having  in  Him  a 
sure  ground  of  righteousness.  In  this  sense  it 
may  be  said  that  God  reconciles  Himself 
through  Christ  to  the  race,  as  well  as  provides 
for  the  reconciliation  of  the  race  to  Himself. 
He  reconciles  Himself  to  the  race  not  as  un- 
dergoing a  change  of  attitude  in  time,  but  as 
having  in  Christ  from  eternity  a  ground  of  a 
more  complacent  attitude  toward  the  race 
than  He  could  otherwise  have. 

IV:     The  Lordship  of  Christ 

The  name  of  Lord,  which  is  applied  to  Christ 
in  the  New  Testament,  directs  our  thought 
not  merely  to  a  historical  personage  on  the 
theater  of  this  world,  but  to  a  being  clothed 
with  continuous  power  and  prerogative.  Christ 
Himself  thus  interpreted  His  lordship.     He 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  113 

claimed  it  indeed  as  something  already  belong- 
ing to  Him  in  the  midst  of  His  earthly  minis- 
try. He  displayed  it  in  the  authoritative  tone 
of  His  speech,  in  His  mastery  over  disease  and 
death,  in  the  exercise  of  the  prerogative  to 
forgive  sins,  in  His  placing  of  relationship  to 
Himself  above  all  earthly  relationships,  in 
His  very  significant  declaration  of  the  sub- 
ordination of  Sabbath  observance  to  the  will 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  in  His  institution  of  ordi- 
nances to  be  perpetually  observed.  But  with 
all  this  exhibition  of  regal  authority  on  earth 
Christ  still  contemplated  the  exercise  of  His 
lordship  as  lying  principally  beyond  His  resur- 
rection and  return  to  the  Father.  He  ex- 
pected to  accompany  with  His  spiritual  pres- 
ence the  consecrated  servants  of  His  king- 
dom. He  promised  to  be  with  His  disciples 
always  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.  He 
authorized  them  to  anticipate  a  glorious  era 
when  they  shall  renew  companionship  with 
Him  and  be  welcomed  to  a  life  of  transcendant 
nobility  and  unending  felicity. 

In  harmony  with  the  expectation  and  prom- 
ise of  the  Master  is  the  whole  line  of  apos- 
tolic reference.  Christ  is  identified  as  the 
source  of  the  new  spiritual  energy  which  came 
into  the  souls  of  the  disciples  on  the  day  of 


114   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Pentecost.  Baptism  is  said  to  have  been  ad- 
ministered in  the  name  of  Christ.  The  mar- 
tyred Stephen  commended  to  Christ  his  depart- 
ing spirit.  Christ  is  spoken  of  as  the  Lord  of 
glory,  Lord  of  the  dead  and  of  the  living,  one 
whom  every  tongue  is  to  confess  as  Lord.  He 
is  described  as  the  effulgence  of  the  Father's 
glory,  and  the  very  image  of  His  substance. 
He  is  characterized  as  the  fashioner  and  up- 
holder of  all  things.  He  is  viewed  as  an  in- 
ward vitalizing  power,  making  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death,  dwelling  in  the  hearts  of 
faithful  disciples  and  bringing  His  life  to 
manifestation  in  their  conduct.  Instead  of 
being  thought  of  as  beyond  the  range  of  prac- 
tical brotherhood,  He  is  represented  as  touched 
with  a  feeling  of  the  infirmities  of  tempted 
mortals,  and  as  ever  living  to  make  interces- 
sion for  them.  He  is  conceived  to  be  in  this 
lower  world  where  any  humble  group  is  gath- 
ered in  His  name.  He  is  conceived  also  to  be 
enthroned  above  the  hosts  of  the  world  on  high, 
joint  recipient  with  the  Father  of  the  ascrip- 
tions which  are  rendered  by  the  innumerable 
multitude,  and  joint  source  with  Him  also  of 
the  light  of  heaven. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  lordship  of 
Christ  is  a  very  vital  and  practical  matter.    The 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  115 

ascended  Lord  is  also  the  ever-present  Lord. 
He  companies  with  the  disciple  in  the  inti- 
macy of  a  heart  companionship.  He  is 
brother  and  Lord  in  one,  truly  human  and 
truly  divine.  So  completely  is  He  with  men 
that  He  serves  as  the  perfect  bond  of  union 
between  them;  and  so  intimately  is  He  related 
to  the  Father  that  He  provides  the  perfect 
way  of  approach  to  Him.  Surely  lordship 
never  took  on  a  more  lovable  aspect  than  in 
Christ !  Allegiance  to  Him  makes  no  grievous 
yoke. 

In  the  concrete  picture  of  Christ  the  hu- 
man and  the  divine  give  us  no  real  trouble  by 
their  contrasts.  They  are  as  well  fitted  to 
one  another  as  earth  and  sky  in  the  landscape. 
To  analyze  their  interrelations  is,  however,  a 
task  too  great  for  our  limited  insight.  Prob- 
ably the  best  that  we  can  do  is  to  think  of  the 
divine  as  a  kind  of  over-soul  closely  and  con- 
stantly related  to  the  human  in  our  Lord  by 
virtue  of  the  incarnation.  But  it  would  not  be 
wise  to  dwell  at  length  upon  this  form  of  ex- 
position. It  behooves  us  in  the  interest  of  prac- 
tical piety  to  pass  speedily  from  the  field  of 
analysis  and  to  concentrate  attention  upon  the 
historic  manifestation,  where  the  human  and 
the  divine  are  so  harmoniously  united  as  to 


116   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

set  before  us  the  image  of  one  self-consistent 
personality. 


V:     Supplementary  Topics — Tlie  Supernatural 
Conception  and  the  Resurrection  of  Christ 

Dealing  very  briefly  with  these  topics,  we 
remark  in  the  first  place  on  the  former,  that 
the  question  of  the  supernatural  conception 
of  Jesus,  the  Christ,  is  a  question  relative  to 
the  method  of  the  origination  of  His  humanity. 
It  has  no  direct  bearing  on  the  existence  in 
Him  of  a  transcendent  or  divine  factor,  such 
a  factor  being  plainly  no  proper  subject  for 
generation  in  the  earthly  time  sphere.  Indi- 
rectly it  may  bear  in  some  degree  on  the  sup- 
position of  extraordinary  powers  and  rela- 
tionships as  pertaining  to  Christ.  The  extraor- 
dinary conception  suggests  a  destination  of  its 
subject  to  a  very  remarkable  mission,  and 
favors  belief  in  the  hidden  possession  by  Him 
of  corresponding  personal  endowments.  In 
the  immediate  view,  however,  it  simply  defines 
the  method  by  which  the  human  Jesus  attained 
to  germinal  existence. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
there  is  good  reason  to  conclude  that  the  story 
incorporating  this  feature  was  no  late  impor- 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  117 

tation,  but  rather  had  place  in  about  the  most 
primitive  stratum  of  the  tradition  respecting 
the  life  of  Mary's  son.  Passages  in  the  Gos- 
pels which  affirm  it  contain  marks  of  a  spe- 
cially early  origin.  This  applies  very  notice- 
ably to  the  first  two  chapters  of  Luke's  Gos- 
pel. "Whatever,"  says  Professor  Sanday  of 
Oxford,  "the  date  at  which  the  chapters  were 
first  set  down  in  writing,  in  any  case  the  con- 
tents of  the  chapters  are  the  most  archaic 
things  in  the  whole  New  Testament."  10  The 
judgment  of  Professor  Weinel  is  no  less  posi- 
tive. "Although  Luke,"  he  writes,  "first  with 
the  art  of  his  speech  may  have  imparted  to  the 
story  a  part  of  its  charm,  in  its  whole  trend 
it  is  much  older  and  belongs  alone,  through  the 
fact  that  it  traces  back  Jesus  beyond  Joseph 
to  David,  to  the  oldest  material  we  possess 
from  the  Christian  company."  xl 

The  third  legitimate  proposition  may  take 
this  form:  Historical  disproof  of  the  super- 
natural conception  has  not  been,  and  in  all 
probability  never  can  be,  achieved,  any  more 
than  downright  historical  proof.  Certainly 
no  real  installment  of  a  disproof  has  been  fur- 
nished in  the  fact  that  one  reading  in  an  an- 

10  Cited  by  James  Orr,  "The  Virgin  Birth,"  Appendix. 

11  "Biblische  Theologie  des  Neuen  Testaments,"   p.   233. 


118   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

cient  manuscript  of  Matthew's  Gospel  can  be 
taken  as  ignoring  the  extraordinary  agency  of 
the  Spirit  in  the  conception  of  Jesus.  Within 
the  space  of  four  verses  this  same  manuscript 
categorically  affirms  that  peculiar  agency.  As 
against  this  record,  and  the  record  of  Luke 
with  its  archaic  stamp,  the  single  verse  in  the 
single  ancient  copy  of  Matthew's  text  cannot 
be  rated  as  an  evidence  of  appreciable  weight. 
About  as  little  decisive  for  the  negative  as 
the  above  item  is  the  presumed  and  not  im- 
probable fact,  that  the  genealogies,  as  set  down 
in  both  Matthew  and  Luke,  give  the  line  of 
Joseph.  This  was  the  appropriate  procedure 
in  setting  forth  the  fact  of  the  Davidic  right 
pertaining  to  Jesus,  even  in  face  of  the  sup- 
position of  the  supernatural  conception.  As 
Dalman  remarks:  "A  case  such  as  that  of 
Jesus  was,  of  course,  not  anticipated  by  the 
law ;  but  if  no  other  human  father  was  alleged, 
then  the  child  must  have  been  regarded  as 
bestowed  by  God  upon  the  house  of  Joseph, 
for  a  betrothed  woman,  according  to  Israel- 
itish  law,  already  occupied  the  same  status  as 
a  wife.  The  divine  will,  in  the  case  of  this 
birth,  conferred  upon  the  child  its  own  right 
of  succession,  which,  once  Joseph  recognized 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  119 

it,  would  not  have  been  disputed  even  by  a 
Jewish  judge."  12 

How  unlikely  are  the  chances  for  historical 
disproof  is  well  illustrated  by  attempts  to  ex- 
plain the  importation  of  the  notion  of  the 
supernatural  conception  into  the  primitive 
Christian  community.  Authorities  here  are  in 
conflict.  Schmiedel  is  averse  to  identifying 
Judaism  as  the  source.  He  declares,  "The 
notion  of  a  supernatural  birth  never  at  any 
time  attached  to  the  idea  of  the  Jewish  Mes- 
siah."13 The  more  conservative  Dalman  adds 
his  weighty  authority  to  this  statement,14  and 
it  may  be  regarded  as  confirmed  by  the  known 
position  of  the  stricter  wing  of  the  Ebionites, 
by  the  language  which  Justin  Martyr  puts  in- 
to the  mouth  of  the  Jew  Trypho,  and  by  the 
testimony  of  Hippolytus.  On  the  other  hand, 
Lobstein  discovers  no  credible  antecedent  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  supernatural  conception 
except  in  the  religion  of  Israel.  So  deep- 
seated  was  the  aversion  which  primitive  Chris- 
tianity felt  for  polytheistic  paganism  that  it 
would  surely  have  been  disinclined  to  borrow 
from  that  province.15     The  judgment  of  Pro- 

12  "The  Words  of  Jesus  Considered  in  the  Light  of  Post-Biblical 
Jewish   Writings  and  the  Aramaic  Language,"  pp.  319-320. 

13  "Encyclopaedia    Biblica,"    article,    Mary. 
"  "Words  of  Jesus,   etc.,"  p.  276. 

is  «The  virgin  Birth  of  Christ,"  pp.  75,  76. 


120  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

fessor  Harnack  is  corroborative.  He  says: 
"The  conjecture  that  the  idea  of  a  birth  from 
a  virgin  is  a  heathen  myth,  which  was  received 
by  Christians,  contradicts  the  entire  earliest 
development  of  Christian  tradition."16  Even 
agreement  on  the  part  of  historical  critics  as  to 
the  source  from  which  it  might  plausibly  be 
assumed  that  the  idea  of  the  supernatural  con- 
ception may  have  been  borrowed  would  not 
be  any  complete  historical  disproof  of  that 
idea.  Under  the  actual  conditions,  then,  it  is 
quite  apparent  that  real  disproof  has  made 
insignificant  headway  along  the  line  under 
consideration. 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  subject  faith 
in  the  supernatural  conception  cannot  claim 
the  most  decisive  credentials.  Apart  from  the 
testimony  of  a  very  early  and  vital  tradition, 
it  can  only  appeal  to  the  general  congruity  of 
the  reported  extraordinary  birth  with  the  per- 
son and  office  of  Christ  as  they  stand  forth 
in  the  New  Testament.  Those  who  are  ill  af- 
fected toward  the  supposition  of  the  real  oc- 
currence of  miracles  in  any  field  will  naturally 
be  very  ready  to  challenge  the  historicity  of 
the  gospel  story  of  the  virgin  birth  of  Jesus. 
Those  not  intolerant  of  the  given  supposition 

18  "History  of  Dogma,"  I,  100,  cited  by  G.  H.  Box,  "The  Virgin 
Birth  of  Jesus." 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  121 

are  under  no  compulsion  to  take  that  alterna- 
tive. The  author  confesses  that,  for  himself, 
he  has  no  quarrel  with  that  specification  on 
this  theme  in  the  Apostles'  Creed  which  has 
been  on  the  lips  of  the  great  majority  of  Chris- 
tians for  nearly  two  thousand  years. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  respecting  the  evi- 
dences for  the  resurrection  of  Christ  that  they 
make  as  near  an  approach  to  historical  demon- 
stration as  could  with  proper  sobriety  be  de- 
manded. Some  apparent  disagreements  in  the 
gospel  narratives  may  indeed  furnish  matter 
to  the  objector.  But  a  criticism  which  has  not 
become  near-sighted  and  picayunish  by  con- 
tinuous grubbing  in  small  details  will  not 
magnify  the  import  of  discrepancies  in  the 
subordinate  particulars  of  brief  and  independ- 
ent reports.  The  main  stress  is  due  to  the 
prominent  and  concurring  lines  of  evidence; 
and  these  are  by  no  means  scanty  in  connection 
with  the  present  theme.17 

1.  We  have  the  fact  that  a  man  of  Paul's 
moral  potency  and  intellectual  caliber,  on  the 
basis  of  data  gathered  within  a  very  few  years 
of  Christ's  death,  specified  as  vouchers  for  the 
actual  appearance  of  the  risen  Christ  a  full 

17  For  a  fuller  statement  of  the  evidence  see  the  author's  "Sys- 
tem of  Christian  Doctrine,"  pp.  581-590. 


122   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

list  of  witnesses,  the  majority  of  whom  were 
still  alive  at  the  time  when  he  wrote.  As  hav- 
ing been  formerly  a  special  agent  of  the  Phar- 
isaic and  priestly  party  in  its  attempt  to 
suppress  those  who  believed  on  Jesus,  he  must 
have  known  what  that  party  was  able  to  offer 
against  the  fact  of  the  resurrection.  Unde- 
niably he  had  very  eminent  qualifications  to 
serve  as  the  competent  witness. 

2.  We  are  furnished  with  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  the  New  Testament  historians 
to  the  fact  of  the  empty  tomb.  What  had 
become  of  the  body?  To  charge  the  disciples 
with  having  stolen  and  concealed  it  lands  one 
in  helpless  absurdity.  A  dead  body  under 
their  hand  and  a  he  upon  their  tongues  and 
consciences  could  never  have  fitted  them  to  be 
the  heroes  and  martyrs  of  a  new  dispensation. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  their  opponents  had  rifled 
the  tomb,  they  had  but  to  produce  their 
prey  to  confound  the  new-born  enthusiasm  of 
the  sect  of  the  Nazarene. 

3.  We  are  given  the  concurring  testimony 
of  Paul  and  all  the  Evangelists  respecting  the 
appearance  of  Christ  to  the  whole  apostolic 
company.  And  with  this  phase  of  history  we 
may  legitimately  conjoin  the  fact  that  there 
was  manifestly  at  work  in  the  company  of  the 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  123 

disciples,  very  soon  after  the  crucifixion,  a 
mighty  creative  power,  such  as  might  well 
have  issued  from  a  great  and  marvelous  event 
like  the  reappearance  of  the  beloved  Master. 
To  suppose  that  the  transformation  was 
wrought  by  the  ghostly  images  born  of  dis- 
tempered fancies  makes  a  great  strain  upon 
rational  conviction.  Then,  too,  it  is  trouble- 
some to  conceive  how  groups  of  individuals, 
some  of  whom  were  among  the  most  hard- 
headed  and  practical  men  anywhere  to  be 
found  in  that  age,  could  have  been  subjects 
for  a  common  and  simultaneous  illusion.  It  is 
to  be  noted,  moreover,  that  the  disciples  be- 
lieved, not  merely  that  they  saw  the  risen 
Christ,  but  that  they  also  received  messages 
from  Him.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that  their 
senses  conspired  to  play  them  tricks?  Of 
course  the  reality  of  the  messages  may  be  de- 
nied. But  the  fact  remains  that  they  were 
conformable  to  the  tenor  of  the  Gospels,  and 
in  their  combination  of  simplicity  and  grand- 
eur they  are  such  messages  as  might  properly 
be  supposed  to  have  been  spoken  by  the  risen 
Lord. 

4.  The  resurrection  of  Christ  is  made  cred- 
ible by  the  intimate  relation  existing  between 
the  recorded  forecast  of  the  same  and  an  in- 


124  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

dubitably  fulfilled  prophecy.  All  the  evan- 
gelists testify  that  Christ  foretold  to  the  dis- 
ciples, with  specification  of  approximate  date 
and  circumstances,  His  violent  death.  They 
are  clear  and  emphatic  on  this  point.  Now 
the  fulfillment  of  this  line  of  prophecies  makes 
for  belief  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  declarations 
of  Christ  respecting  the  rising  of  the  Son  of 
Man  from  the  dead  which  was  to  succeed  the 
ignominious  death.  It  may  be  alleged  indeed 
that  if  these  forecasts  of  the  resurrection  had 
been  actually  spoken,  the  disciples  would  not 
have  fallen  into  such  a  despairing  mood  after 
the  crucifixion  of  their  Leader.  But  this  in- 
duction is  not  well  taken.  Only  by  slow  de- 
grees did  the  disciples  rise  to  anything  like  a 
spiritual  conception  of  the  Messianic  kingdom. 
From  their  habitual  point  of  view  the  death 
of  the  Messiah  was  a  dark  enigma.  It  seemed 
to  them  like  the  swallowing  up  of  all  hope  and 
promise.  They  remained  unreconciled  to  the 
thought  of  such  a  terrible  issue.  By  natural 
consequence  the  forecast  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  Master  remained  in  mist  and  obscurity. 
As  one  of  the  evangelists  reports  they  had 
questionings  on  the  subject  and  shrank  from 
asking  explanations.18     When  therefore  the 

18  Mark  ix,  31,  32. 


THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  125 

catastrophe  came,  and  Jesus  yielded  up  His 
life  upon  the  cross,  they  were  too  stricken  in 
heart  to  entertain  any  substantial  hope.  So 
their  mood  does  not  deny  the  utterance  of  the 
assurances  respecting  the  rising  from  the  dead. 
He  who  spoke  with  true  forecast  of  the  cruci- 
fixion may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have 
spoken  with  true  forecast  of  the  resurrection. 
5.  Finally  we  have  the  consideration  that 
the  resurrection  may  most  reasonably  be  reck- 
oned as  a  completing  factor  in  the  office  of 
Saviour  so  prominently  associated  with  Christ 
in  the  Gospels. 


CHAPTER    IV:      THE    CHRISTIAN 
TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD 

/:     A  Word  on  Proofs  of  the  Divine  Existence 

The  scriptural  writers  were  very  little  in- 
clined to  engage  in  formal  argumentation  for 
the  existence  of  God.  Beyond  question  they 
were  deeply  convinced,  especially  those  of 
them  who  were  richly  endowed  with  poetic 
sentiment,  that  nature  attests  a  mighty  and 
wonderfully  skilful  Maker.  To  them  it 
seemed  that  the  heavens  declared  the  glory  of 
God,  and  that  the  orderly  motions  of  the  sun, 
moon,  and  stars  could  reasonably  be  referred 
to  nothing  else  than  the  guiding  hand  of  the 
Great  Shepherd  of  the  skies.  It  was  their 
judgment  that  the  man  who  said  in  his  heart, 
"There  is  no  God,"  had  unequivocally  earned 
the  title  of  "fool."  Not  one  of  them  would 
have  hesitated  to  subscribe  to  Paul's  declara- 
tion that  the  everlasting  power  and  divinity  of 
God  have,  ever  since  the  creation,  been  so 
clearly  revealed,  through  the  things  that  are 
seen,  that  those  who  refuse  to  recognize  Him 
are  without  excuse.1    Still  it  was  their  habit  to 

1Rom.  i,  20. 

126 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       127 

assume  rather  than  attempt  to  prove  the  di- 
vine existence.  They  evidently  felt  that  it  was 
a  truth  which  shone  too  brightly  in  the  inner 
sanctuary  of  men's  spirits  to  make  it  needful 
to  be  trying  to  cast  upon  it  the  rays  of  formally 
stated  proofs. 

Some  in  our  times  are  distinctly  less  appre- 
ciative of  attempted  proofs  than  were  the  scrip- 
tural writers.  They  not  only  advise  practical 
abstinence  from  them,  but  are  forward  to  dis- 
parage them  as  essentially  worthless.  This 
strikes  us  as  neither  necessary  nor  prudent. 
We  grant  that  the  so-called  proofs  have  at 
times  been  overrated.  None  of  them  reach 
to  the  point  of  absolute  demonstration.  At 
best  they  furnish  only  substantial  grounds  for 
a  rational  and  warranted  faith.  We  grant  also 
that  one  and  another  of  the  proofs,  however 
much  cried  up  by  its  author  and  zealously  re- 
peated by  his  disciples,  has  no  claim  to  accept- 
ance and  continued  use.  This  remark  holds  of 
the  Anselmic  argument,  and  also  of  the  Carte- 
sian in  at  least  one  of  its  forms.  Unmistakable 
faults  attach  to  these  as  virtually  harboring  the 
assumption  that  it  is  possible  to  establish  a  fact 
on  the  sole  basis  of  a  conception,  to  deduce  a 
reality  from  an  idea  pure  and  simple.    Disaf- 


128   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

fection,  however,  toward  proofs  of  this  type 
does  not  justify  a  wholesale  repudiation  of  at- 
tempts rationally  to  establish  the  truth  of  the 
divine  existence.  While  formal  arguments  do 
not  function  as  the  main  ground  of  faith,  they 
are  likely  in  the  long  run  to  exercise  a  steady- 
ing influence  over  conviction.  This  much  at 
least  can  be  said  of  the  cosmological  and  teleo- 
logical  arguments. 

The  first-named  emphasizes  the  demand  for 
a  real  cause  of  the  cosmic  system  and  for  an  in- 
telligible explanation  of  interaction  between 
the  several  parts  of  that  system.  It  is  con- 
tended that  a  second  cause,  or  simple  medium 
for  the  transmitting  of  efficiency,  does  not  an- 
swer to  the  genuine  conception  of  cause.  If  it 
is  objected  that  the  search  for  cause  in  this 
character  should  be  renounced,  it  is  answered 
that  an  alternative  of  this  kind  cannot  be  made 
satisfactory  to  the  human  mind.  It  is  not 
agreeable  to  its  constitution  to  rest  upon  the 
notion  of  an  efficiency  which,  though  not  origi- 
nal, comes  from  nothing  and  nowhere.  The 
postulate  of  an  endless  regress  denies  a  point  of 
rest  to  the  mind  by  denying  to  it  the  concep- 
tion of  a  real  cause.  Those  who  say,  renounce 
the  principle  of  causality,  are  not  giving  ad- 
vice that  is  easy  to  carry  out  consistently.    Any 


TEACHING   RESPECTING  GOD       129 

one  of  them  may  be  expected  implicitly  to  fol- 
low the  example  of  Hume,  who  exercised  him- 
self greatly,  right  in  the  midst  of  his  attempt 
to  discredit  the  principle  of  causality,  to  dis- 
cover the  cause  of  our  belief  in  causality.  The 
quest  for  cause  is  native  to  man  and  appro- 
priately leads  him  up  to  the  First  Great  Cause, 
the  one  Reality  that  is  reasonably  postulated 
as  explaining  all  else. 

The  other  feature  of  the  cosmological  argu- 
ment, the  requirement  for  a  satisfactory  ac- 
count of  sustained  interaction  between  all  parts 
of  the  world  system,  so  as  to  make  and  con- 
serve it  as  a  real  system,  is  of  no  slight  value. 
The  members  of  the  system  are  severally  de- 
pendent, and  adding  them  together  would  not 
constitute  them  an  independent  entity.  Here 
the  point  of  view  of  Professor  Bowne  is  not  a 
little  illuminating.  "An  interacting  many,"  he 
says,  "cannot  exist  without  a  coordinating  one. 
The  interaction  of  our  thoughts  and  mental 
states  is  possible  only  through  the  unity  of  a 
basal  reality  which  brings  them  together  in  the 
unity  of  one  consciousness.  So  the  interactions 
of  the  universe  are  possible  only  through  the 
unity  of  a  basal  reality  which  brings  them  to- 
gether in  its  one  immanent  omnipresence."  2 

3  "Metaphysics,"  first  edition,  p.  126. 


130   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

The  teleological  or  design  argument  vies  in 
cogency  with  the  foregoing.  Arrangements 
that  accomplish  on  a  vast  scale  results  that  are 
worthy  of  intelligence  and  purpose  have  a 
weighty  claim  to  be  referred  to  intelligence 
and  purpose.  And  how  can  any  man,  who 
does  not  compel  himself  to  look  through  the 
distorting  mists  of  a  rank  pessimism,  fail  to 
observe  an  abundance  of  arrangements  that 
conform  to  this  description?  It  was  not  one 
tied  to  traditional  creeds,  but  John  Stuart 
Mill,  who  said,  "I  think  it  must  be  allowed  that, 
in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  the  adap- 
tations in  nature  afford  a  large  balance  in  favor 
of  creation  by  intelligence."  3  Evolution  the- 
ory may  have  served  to  modify  our  method  of 
reading  the  marks  of  intelligence  or  design, 
but  it  has  by  no  means  cancelled  them.  Many 
eminent  naturalists  have  confessed  as  much. 
Recently  increased  emphasis  has  been  given  to 
the  truth  that  the  "survival  of  the  fittest"  does 
not  carry  with  it  an  explanation  of  the  arrival 
of  the  fittest,  and  of  its  arrival  in  such  order 
as  to  lead  on  in  an  ascending  scale  the  succes- 
sive ranks  of  organic  life.  It  is  in  fact  a  very 
easygoing  mental  process  that,  in  the  presence 
of  the  world  with  its  manifold  and  marvelously 

3  "Three  Essays  on  Religion."  p.  174. 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       131 

interrelated  parts,  can  dispense  with  the  Di- 
vine Agent. 

The  argument  from  human  nature  may  be 
classified  as  a  select  part  of  the  proof  from  de- 
sign. In  practical  virtue  it  has  not  been  de- 
throned, and  there  is  the  scantiest  reason  to  sus- 
pect that  it  ever  will  be.  In  all  his  nobler  en- 
dowments— intellectual,  moral,  religious,  and 
aesthetic — man  proclaims  that  he  came,  not 
from  the  dust  of  the  earth,  but  from  an  all- 
wise  and  benevolent  Spirit  who  designed  him 
to  fulfill  a  high  destiny. 

77:     Elements  of  the  Hebraic  Conception  of  God 
which  Are  Reproduced  in  Christianity 

It  is  not  without  a  special  advantage  that  we 
are  able  to  deal  with  the  theme  of  this  chapter 
on  the  basis  of  an  established  conception  re- 
specting the  place  of  Christ  in  Christianity. 
The  assurance  that  He  impersonated  the  moral 
ideal,  and  was  charged  with  an  extraordinary 
vocation,  supplies  us  with  most  valuable 
grounds  of  confidence  in  construing  the  idea 
of  God.  Wherever  it  appears  difficult  to  har- 
monize an  ideal  conception  of  the  Divine  Be- 
ing with  existing  facts,  it  is  of  great  conse- 
quence to  be  favored  with  the  testimony  of  an 


132  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

expositor  so  well  authenticated  as  we  may  ra- 
tionally believe  the  Christ  to  have  been. 

In  characterizing  the  Christian  conception 
of  God  we  may  notice,  in  the  first  place,  that 
it  reproduces  the  three  prominent  elements  of 
the  Hebrew  conception,  namely,  absolute  su- 
premacy, distinct  personality,  and  intensity  of 
ethical  life.  The  first  of  these  elements  cer- 
tainly is  discoverable  in  the  higher  range  of 
Hebrew  thinking.  It  appears  in  the  way  in 
which  the  creation  narrative,  in  the  opening 
chapter  of  Genesis,  describes  God  as  originat- 
ing all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power.  The 
Psalmist  gives  vivid  expression  to  it  in  the  dec- 
laration, "By  the  Word  of  the  Lord  were  the 
heavens  made ;  and  all  the  host  of  them  by  the 
breath  of  His  mouth.  .  .  .  He  spake  and  it 
was  done;  He  commanded  and  it  stood  fast."  4 
The  hero  of  the  Book  of  Job  affirms  it  in  terms 
no  less  graphic.  After  giving  a  catalogue  of 
the  mighty  works  of  God,  he  adds,  "Lo  these 
are  but  the  outskirts  of  His  ways;  and  how 
small  a  whisper  do  we  hear  of  Him  I  But  the 
thunder  of  His  power  who  can  understand."  5 
Isaiah  gives  poetic  representation  to  the  same 
truth  when  he  speaks  of  God  as  stretching  out 
the  heavens,  like  a  curtain,  or  says  that  over 

*  Ps.   xxxiii,  6,  9. 
5  Job  xxvi,  14. 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       133 

against  Him  the  nations  are  but  as  the  drop  of 
the  bucket  and  the  small  dust  of  the  balance."  6 
The  like  thought  prompts  Jeremiah  to  exclaim, 
"Lord,  God!  behold  Thou  hast  made  the 
heaven  and  the  earth  by  Thy  great  power  and 
by  Thy  stretched-out  arm.  There  is  nothing 
too  hard  for  Thee."  7  Indeed,  should  one  at- 
tempt to  frame  the  strongest  possible  assertion 
of  the  absolute  supremacy  of  God,  in  language 
addressed  to  imagination  and  feeling,  as  well 
as  to  intellect,  he  could  not  do  better  than  to 
copy  the  sentences  in  which  the  Old  Testament 
writers  expressed  their  sense  of  the  divine 
greatness.  It  was  not  God  alongside  the 
world,  or  submerged  in  the  world,  whom  they 
contemplated;  it  was  rather  God  supreme 
over  the  world  and  the  almighty  fashioner 
of  all  that  it  contains.  They  had  no  place 
accordingly  for  the  notion  of  a  limit  upon 
the  divine  rule,  such  as  is  implied  in  the 
classic  conception  of  fate.  Making  the  uni- 
verse of  things  thoroughly  dependent  upon 
God  they  could  apprehend  no  occasion  for  sup- 
posing that  out  of  its  sphere  there  could  arise 
any  power  capable  of  defying  divine  mastery. 

As  regards  the  personality  of  God,  it  does 
not  seem  to  have  entered  the  minds  of  the  He- 

eIsa.  xi,   15. 
7  Jer.  xxxii,  17. 


134  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

brew  writers  that  there  was  any  room  for 
doubt.  In  their  thought  God  was  unequivo- 
cally the  Supreme  Person.  And  this  meant 
two  things.  It  signified,  in  the  first  place,  that 
God  is  a  being  who  has  self -grasp,  who  makes 
and  executes  purposes,  who  dwells  in  the  full 
light  of  self-consciousness.  In  the  second 
place,  it  signified  that  God  is  a  being  with  whom 
real  fellowship  is  possible.  It  was  indeed  felt 
that  He  is  partly  shrouded  in  mystery.  His 
presence  at  times  seemed  to  be  illusive.  Thus 
Job  was  led  to  exclaim,  "Behold,  I  go  forward, 
but  He  is  not  there ;  and  backward,  but  I  can- 
not perceive  Him :  on  the  left  hand,  when  He 
doth  work,  but  I  cannot  behold  Him:  He 
hideth  Himself  on  the  right  hand,  that  I  can- 
not see  Him."  8  Nevertheless,  it  was  the  He- 
brew conviction  that  God  stands  to  man  as 
person  to  person.  He  has  intelligence  to  hear 
and  a  heart  to  respond.  A  righteous  man  is 
privileged  to  rise  superior  to  the  sorrows  and 
enigmas  of  life  by  entering  into  true  converse 
and  fellowship  with  Him.  Even  piety  to-day 
can  find  few  sentences  better  adapted  than 
the  vivid  language  of  the  Hebrew  Psalms  to 
express  the  repose  of  soul,  the  exuberant  joy, 
and  the  sense  of  enrichment  which  belong  with 

8  Job  xxiii,  8,  9. 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       135 

the  assurance  that  the  Divine  One  is  near,  ac- 
cessible, and  responsive. 

In  harmony  with  this  lively  conception  of  the 
personality  of  God,  Hebrew  thought  ascribed 
to  Him  great  intensity  of  ethical  life.  It  rep- 
resented Him  as  the  living  God,  alert,  active, 
keeping  His  eye  upon  all  things  and  all  events. 
No  spirit  of  indifference  or  slumber  attaches  to 
Him.  He  has  genuine  delight  in  the  righteous 
and  the  trustful.  He  is  near  them  even  before 
they  call  upon  Him,  their  helper  and  refuge, 
their  rock  and  strong  tower,  their  light  and 
salvation.  On  the  other  hand,  His  face  is 
against  them  that  do  evil.  "There  is  no  dark- 
ness nor  shadow  of  death  where  the  workers  of 
iniquity  may  hide  themselves."  9  God  possesses 
indeed  the  calm  and  majesty  of  conscious 
might.  But  in  Him  intensity  is  joined  with  the 
calm.  He  is  alive  to  the  very  depths  of  His 
ethical  nature,  penetrated  with  the  feelings 
which  in  an  inferior  measure  characterize  the 
true  man.  He  is  intense  in  His  love  and  in- 
tense in  His  abhorrence.  All  things  are  naked 
and  open  in  His  sight,  and  He  never  views 
them  with  a  careless  glance. 

We  have  said  that  Christianity  takes  up 
these  three  elements  of  the  Hebrew  concep- 

6  Job   xxxiv,    22. 


136  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tion  of  God.  With  entire  right  we  may  add 
that,  in  every  point  of  view,  it  is  justified  in 
so  doing.  Good  philosophical  warrant  is  on 
the  side  of  their  appropriation. 

With  substantial  unanimity  through  the 
Christian  ages,  and  in  emphatic  terms,  the 
first  of  the  three  elements  has  been  affirmed. 
But  strangely  enough  in  our  time  a  few  writers 
have  shown  a  fondness  for  the  conception  of  a 
limited  God.  They  contend  that  a  certain  re- 
ligious advantage  pertains  to  the  notion  of  a 
Deity  who  is  circumscribed  in  power  and  under 
compulsion  to  battle  with  varying  degrees  of 
success  against  adverse  world  conditions.  This 
view,  they  apprehend,  involves  an  effective 
summons  to  men  to  help  God  in  the  task  which 
puts  so  serious  a  strain  upon  His  abilities. 
But  it  is  quite  certain  that  in  the  long  run  reli- 
gion must  be  damaged  rather  than  helped  by 
such  a  way  of  thinking.  To  make  God  an  ob- 
ject of  pity  or  patronage  is  to  dethrone  Him. 
The  attitude  of  worship  is  not  to  be  fostered 
by  the  contemplation  of  a  weak  and  baffled 
Deity.  The  call  to  be  coworkers  with  that  sort 
of  a  world-sovereign  cannot  be  made  truly  in- 
spiriting. It  is  vapid  and  nugatory  com- 
pared with  the  summons  enshrined  in  the 
thought  that  God  almighty  clothes  us  with 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       137 

marvelous  honor  in  constituting  us  copartners 
with  Himself  in  the  working  out  of  His  great 
designs,  simply  because  He  is  both  wise  and 
gracious.  It  is  enough  to  quicken  us  to  do  our 
best — this  thought  that  out  of  His  wisdom  and 
benevolence  He  makes  us  the  bearers  of  His 
grace  to  our  fellows,  in  order  that  we  may  be 
lifted  up  toward  the  likeness  of  His  own  good- 
ness, and  that  men  may  be  the  more  firmly 
woven  together  into  a  close- joined  fabric,  an 
ideal  society.  The  God  who  stands  upon  this 
high  plane  meets  most  fully  the  demands  of  the 
religious  sentiment,  and  we  can  work  in  His 
presence  with  a  hope  and  satisfaction  which 
could  not  possibly  be  evoked  by  a  God  who  is 
too  small  for  His  universe  and  needs  to  be 
helped  up  to  His  throne. 

The  second  characteristic  element  in  the 
trend  of  the  Hebrew  revelation,  namely,  dis- 
tinct personality,  has  sometimes  been  chal- 
lenged from  the  side  of  a  speculation  inclining 
to  pantheism.  The  infinite,  it  is  argued,  cannot 
be  personal,  since  self-consciousness  is  fun- 
damental to  the  notion  of  personality,  and  self- 
consciousness  is  realized  through  the  opposition 
of  subject  and  object;  but  the  infinite  can 
not  have  any  object  set  over  against  itself,  in- 
asmuch as  the  object  would  be  a  limit  or  bound, 


138  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

and  so  would  deny  infinitude.  This  reasoning 
may  have  a  plausible  look.  Its  defects,  how- 
ever, are  not  beyond  discovery.  In  the  first 
place,  it  errs  by  making  the  conditions  of  finite 
consciousness  a  standard  for  estimating  those 
of  all  consciousness  whatsoever.  A  limited  be- 
ing like  man  necessarily  grows  in  large  part 
by  what  is  contributed  to  him,  or  by  reaction 
against  his  environment.  He  knows  himself 
in  and  through  his  psychical  states,  and  these 
as  a  matter  of  fact  are  largely  determined  by 
outside  objects.  But  what  reason  is  there  for 
supposing  that  in  the  case  of  a  being  who  is 
not  under  the  law  of  growth,  who  as  infinite  has 
a  complete  content,  there  is  any  such  depend- 
ence in  the  mental  life  upon  an  objective  sphere 
of  being?  A  conditioned  developing  being  may 
well  have  a  conditioned  consciousness.  It 
by  no  means  follows  that  the  same  is  neces- 
sarily true  of  the  original,  unconditioned  Be- 
ing. 

In  the  second  place,  the  reasoning  in  ques- 
tion does  not  do  justice  even  to  the  facts  of 
finite  consciousness.  It  involves  an  implicit 
assumption  of  the  essential  passivity  of  mind. 
For,  unless  the  mind  be  purely  passive  it  is 
not  wholly  dependent  for  self-consciousness 
upon  reaction  against  an  object.    All  that  it 


TEACHING   RESPECTING   GOD       139 

needs  for  self -consciousness  is  positive  states 
or  exercises.  Accordingly,  if  either  it  has  posi- 
tive states  of  any  sort  by  virtue  of  its  consti- 
tution, or  has  a  power  of  generating  states,  a 
faculty  for  initiating  any  sort  of  mental  move- 
ment, it  has  in  itself  materials  for  at  least  some 
degree  of  self-consciousness.  Now,  of  these 
suppositions  the  former  is  at  least  incapable 
of  disproof.  As  for  the  latter,  it  is  strongly 
sustained.  The  spontaneous  irrepressible  con- 
viction of  men  is  on  its  side^.  Men  are  practi- 
cally unanimous  in  the  persuasion  that  they 
have  freedom,  or  the  power  of  initiation.  More- 
over, the  acknowledgment  of  such  a  power  is  a 
necessary  condition  of  an  intelligible  account 
of  moral  responsibility,  not  to  say  of  an  intelli- 
gible account  of  the  distinction  between  truth 
and  error.  But  if  finite  minds  possess  this 
power  of  initiation,  much  more  may  this  be 
supposed  to  be  the  case  with  the  Supreme 
Mind.  The  notion,  therefore,  of  its  necessary 
dependence  upon  an  objective  sphere  for  posi- 
tive mental  states  or  exercises  must  appear  to 
be  illegitimate,  and  the  objection  urged  against 
the  possibility  of  self -consciousness  or  person- 
ality on  the  part  of  the  infinite  falls  away. 

In  the  third  place,  the  notion  that  the  infinite 
must  be  impersonal  errs  by  setting  aside  the 


140    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

richer  conception  of  the  infinite  for  one  that 
is  comparatively  formal  and  empty.  Greatness 
is  not  reached  by  the  mere  pushing  out  of  a 
line,  or  by  simple  extension.  The  content  or 
quality  of  being  is  of  supreme  moment  in  an 
estimate  of  greatness.  To  exclude  from  the  in- 
finite the  highest  attributes  or  functions  of 
which  we  have  any  conception,  namely  self- 
knowledge  and  free  activity,  is  to  deplete  it  of 
the  highest  forms  of  greatness  in  the  interest 
of  a  vague  extension.  It  is  indeed  to  impose 
the  most  disparaging  kind  of  limitations  in 
the  name  of  rejecting  all  limitations.  The  in- 
finite perfections  of  God,  as  the  philosopher 
Lotze  contends,  so  far  from  militating  against 
His  personality,  enforces  the  conclusion  that 
He  alone  has  personality  in  the  highest  sense. 
Self -grasp  in  finite  beings,  though  real,  is  im- 
perfect. 

As  regards  intensity  of  ethical  life  in  God, 
the  challenge  to  the  Hebrew  conception  comes 
from  a  deistic  way  of  thinking.  To  affirm  rela- 
tions of  familiarity  between  God  and  the 
world  of  creatures,  the  typical  deist  argues,  is 
disparaging  to  His  dignity.  He  discharged 
His  responsibility  to  the  world  by  setting  it 
in  motion  under  a  comprehensive  system  of 
laws.     As  respects  the  details  of  its  affairs 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       141 

there  is  no  call  for  His  interference  or  even  for 
His  concern.  It  borders  on  the  absurd  to  sup- 
pose so  lofty  a  Being  to  have  any  real  care 
for  the  conduct  of  such  small  beings  as  men. 
Their  puny  deeds  can  neither  darken  His  in- 
finite glory  nor  add  a  ray  of  light  thereto. 
So  runs  the  deistic  plea.  It  may  seem  rather 
formidable  at  first  thought,  but  it  will  not  en- 
dure inspection.  A  little  reflection  must  con- 
vince one  that  ethical  greatness  does  not  lie  in 
the  direction  of  indifference.  It  is  rather 
meanness  and  poverty  of  spirit  that  are  on  that 
side.  No  parent  proves  himself  great  as  a 
parent  by  holding  himself  aloof  from  his  chil- 
dren in  relation  to  their  joys,  sorrows,  and  di- 
versions. Save  as  the  chords  of  His  own  being 
vibrate  in  response  to  their  varied  experiences 
he  lacks  the  first  requisite  of  parental  great- 
ness. No  sovereign  demonstates  his  greatness 
by  despising  his  subjects  and  overlooking  in 
haughty  unconcern  both  their  crimes  and  their 
sufferings.  In  his  indifference  to  the  char- 
acter and  well-being  of  his  subjects  he  is  more 
like  to  the  marble  image  of  a  ruler  than  to  the 
true  sovereign.  In  all  earthly  relations  it  is 
recognized  that  the  loftier  the  personality  may 
be,  the  more  beautiful  and  seemly  appear  his 
deeds  of  kindness  and  consideration  toward 


142   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  humble,  the  weak,  and  the  ignorant.  Why 
should  any  different  measure  of  greatness  be 
insinuated  into  our  thought  of  God  ?  No  good 
reason,  we  are  persuaded,  can  be  alleged. 
Nothing  can  be  accounted  more  worthy  of  Him 
than  to  be  concerned  for  the  moral  common- 
wealth and  for  every  member  thereof.  It  de- 
grades the  thought  of  God  to  picture  Him  as 
a  sleeping  Brahma,  instead  of  regarding  Him 
as  the  living  God,  touching  every  form  of 
being,  loving  all  that  is  worthy  of  being  loved, 
and  abhorring  all  that  is  worthy  of  being  ab- 
horred.10 

///:     The  Christian  Thought  of  God  as  Father 

While  Christianity  borrows,  as  has  been  ex- 
plained, cardinal  elements  from  the  Hebrew 

10  In  a  formal  discrimination  of  divine  attributes  they  may  be 
ranged  in  two  classes,  the  metaphysical  and  the  ethical.  The 
metaphysical  attributes  may  be  enumerated  as  unity,  spirituality, 
immutability,  omnipresence,  eternity,  omniscience,  and  omnipo- 
tence. The  ethical  attributes  are  righteousness  and  love.  With 
righteousness  holiness  and  justice  may  be  conjoined.  The  three 
terms  may  be  regarded  as  designating  the  same  fundamental  aspect 
of  the  divine  nature  from  somewhat  different  points  of  view. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  sense  attached  to  holiness  in 
Hebraic  usage,  in  its  English  meaning  it  stresses  stainless  purity 
or  absolute  aloofness  from  moral  corruption.  The  righteousness 
of  God  signifies  that  in  His  nature  is  the  unimpeachable  standard 
of  right,  and  that  His  will  is  always  in  absolute  accord  with  that 
standard.  The  attribute  of  justice  connects  with  the  same  con- 
ception a  more  distinct  emphasis  upon  the  executive  function  of 
God's  righteous  will  in  apportioning  to  moral  agents  the  awards 
suitable  to  their  character  and  conduct.  As  for  love  it  is  a 
principle  or  disposition  of  self-impartation  for  the  benefit  and 
beatification  of  another.  According  to  the  relation  in  which  it 
is  exercised  it  may  be  described  under  different  terms.  Considered 
in  relation  to  creatures  generally,  it  is  goodness,  good-will,  or 
benevolence.  Considered  in  relation  to  the  sinful  and  disobedient, 
it  is  mercy  and  long-suffering.  Viewed  in  relation  to  those  who 
are  so  in  affinity  with  God  as  properly  to  be  called  His  children, 
it  is  love  in  the  sense  of  complacency  and  of  spiritual  union  and 
communion. 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       143 

conception,  it  cannot  be  said  to  stop  on  the 
plane  of  Hebrew  thinking.  By  further  de- 
velopment, or  by  incomparable  illustration,  it 
broadens  and  irradiates  the  idea  of  God.  The 
Gospels  bring  us,  so  to  speak,  into  a  new  at- 
mosphere. They  have  a  message  beyond  that 
which  even  the  prophets  and  the  psalmists 
were  able  to  give.  They  present  God  in  a 
more  amiable  light,  make  Him  more  approach- 
able, and  invite  to  a  more  homelike  feeling  in 
His  presence.  To  sum  up  the  advanced  point 
of  view  in  a  word,  we  may  say  that  the  Gos- 
pels are  permeated  with  the  thought  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  in  His  relations  to  men. 
The  Old  Testament  was  indeed  on  the  way  to 
this  conception.  It  reached  the  thought  that 
God  stood  in  a  fatherly  relation  to  the  chosen 
nation,  or  to  the  king  as  the  representative  of 
the  nation.  Here  and  there  the  better  thought 
that  the  individual  as  such  is  entitled  to  look 
to  God  as  Father  may  be  implied  in  the  Old 
Testament  statements.  Still  it  is  in  the  New 
Testament  revelations  that  this  truth  first  at- 
tains the  rank  of  a  pervasive  and  controlling 
conviction. 

The  Gospel  view  of  the  divine  fatherhood 
had  a  practical  and  not  merely  a  theoretical 
ground.     That  ground  was  the  consciousness 


144.  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  Christ.  He  had  a  perfectly  luminous  sense 
of  His  filial  relation.  He  knew  Himself  as  the 
beloved  Son,  joined  to  the  heavenly  Father 
by  identity  of  purpose  and  will,  giving  to  Him 
unlimited  trust,  doing  always  the  things  that 
pleased  Him,  and  standing  always  in  the  light 
of  His  complacent  love.  He  could  say  at 
every  turn,  "I  am  not  alone,  because  the 
Father  is  with  me." 

It  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  a  more 
effective  way  of  disclosing  to  the  world  the 
great  truth  of  the  divine  fatherhood.  From 
the  image  of  perfect  sonship,  which  we  have  in 
Christ,  thought  easily  passes  to  its  correlate. 
Indeed  the  filial  in  Christ  directs  us  at  once 
to  the  paternal  in  God.  By  all  our  faith  in 
the  spiritual  clearness  of  the  former  we  are 
compelled  to  believe  that  His  perception  was 
in  full  correspondence  with  the  essential  dis- 
position of  the  latter.  His  perception,  there- 
fore, lends  itself  to  general  use.  The  image  of 
the  heavenly  Father  which  was  mirrored  in 
his  filial  soul  becomes  unto  all  who  will  con- 
sider it  a  means  of  contemplating  God  in  the 
beauty  and  attractiveness  of  his  paternal  char- 
acter. 

In  His  formal  teaching  Christ  seeks  ever  to 
draw  men  to  a  share  in  his  own  serene  confi- 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       145 

dence  in  the  heavenly  Father.  Pointing  to  the 
delight  which  parents,  notwithstanding  the  im- 
perfection and  selfishness  which  cling  to  them, 
experience  in  bestowing  gifts  upon  their  chil- 
dren, He  adds,  "If  ye  then  being  evil  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how 
much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 
give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  Him."  X1 
He  assures  His  disciples  that  so  long  as  they 
fulfill  the  supreme  duty  of  seeking  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  it  is 
needless  to  harbor  an  anxious  thought  about 
the  temporal  stores  of  the  morrow.13  The 
heavenly  Father  who  feeds  the  birds  and 
clothes  with  more  than  Solomonic  glory  the 
short-lived  flower  of  the  field  will  not  neglect 
to  provide  for  His  children.  In  graphic  ex- 
pression of  the  minuteness  of  the  care  which 
aims  at  their  protection  and  well-being,  Christ 
declares  that  the  very  hairs  upon  their  heads 
are  numbered  by  the  heavenly  Father.  He 
invites  them,  furthermore,  to  see  in  all  His 
own  readiness  for  self-sacrifice  and  affection- 
ate fellowship  an  image  of  the  Father's  dispo- 
sition toward  them.  If  He  pictures  Himself 
as  the  good  shepherd,  ready  to  lay  down  His 
life  for  the  sheep,  He  adds:    "Therefore  doth 

11  Matt,  vii,  11. 

12  Matt,  vi,  25-34. 


146   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

my  Father  love  me  because  I  lay  down  my 
life."  If  He  declares  that  He  will  come  and 
manifest  Himself  to  the  obedient  disciple,  He 
declares  also  that  the  Father  will  come  to  the 
same  disciple  and  take  up  His  abode  with 
him.13 

We  should  hardly  expect  the  New  Testa- 
ment epistles  to  present  the  thought  of  the  di- 
vine fatherhood  in  quite  as  genial  a  manner  as 
do  the  Gospels,  since  Christ  in  His  matchless 
filial  consciousness  was  the  matchless  expositor 
of  divine  fatherhood.  Still  it  is  no  faint  or 
lifeless  expression  of  this  truth  that  meets  us 
in  the  messages  of  the  apostles.  Paul  indi- 
cated clearly  enough  that  he  felt  the  glow  of  it 
when  he  described  the  privilege  and  experi- 
ence of  the  believer  in  these  words:  "Ye  re- 
ceived not  the  spirit  of  bondage  again  unto 
fear;  but  ye  received  the  spirit  of  adoption, 
whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Father.  The  spirit 
Himself  beareth  witness  with  our  spirit,  that 
we  are  the  children  of  God."  14  John  showed 
that  he  was  no  stranger  to  the  same  truth  when 
he  exclaimed,  "Behold  what  manner  of  love 
the  Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us  that  we 
should  be  called  the  children  of  God."  15    The 

13  John  x,  17  ;  John  xiv,  23. 
"Rom.   viii,   15,   16. 
18 1  John  iii,  1. 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       147 

author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  gave  evi- 
dence of  a  like  conviction  when  he  instructed 
his  readers  to  find  in  their  very  tribulations  a 
token  of  the  fatherly  interest  of  the  God  who 
is  wont  to  chasten  His  children  for  their  own 
profit.16     The  truth  of  the  divine  fatherhood 
runs    indeed    through    the    New    Testament, 
though  one  needs  to  get  near  the  Christ  in 
order  to  be  cognizant  of  its  warmest  pulsations. 
The  question  has  been  raised  whether  in 
New  Testament  thought  the  divine  fatherhood 
is  made  coextensive  with  the  race.    If  one  rests 
in  the  letter  of  certain  sentences,  he  can  doubt- 
less make  out  somewhat  of  a  case  for  the  nega- 
tive side.     Mention  is  made  of  the  wicked  as 
holding  a  filial  relation  to  Satan  rather  than  to 
God.17     Stress  is  also  placed  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  rebirth  18 — a  form  of  words  which  may 
be  regarded  as  implying  that  the  estate  of 
children  of  God  is  something  to  be  acquired 
instead  of  being  universally  possessed.     Still 
further,  men  are  represented  as  gaining  the 
right  to  become  the  sons  of  God  by  receiving 
the  message  of  salvation.19     Finally  they  are 
spoken  of  as  receiving  the  adoption  of  sons.20 
Such  language  seems  to  put  a  limitation  upon 

18Heb.  xii,  7-11. 

17  John  viii,   44. 

18  John   iii,   3-6. 
"John  i,  12. 

20  Gal.  iv,  5. 


148   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

sonship,  and  this  quite  naturally  may  be  re- 
garded as  implying  a  limitation  upon  father- 
hood likewise. 

Still,  it  would  do  injustice  to  the  scriptural 
teaching  to  restrict  the  fatherly  relation  of 
God  on  the  ground  of  the  sentences  just  cited. 
God  may  be,  in  an  important  sense,  fatherly 
toward  those  who  are  not  filial  toward  Him. 
The  New  Testament  implies  as  much,  and  it 
is  quite  legitimate  to  say  that  the  undercurrent 
of  its  thought  is  on  the  side  of  the  universality 
of  the  divine  fatherhood.     As  has  been  ob- 
served, Christ  affirmed  identity  of  disposition 
between  Himself  and  the  Father.     He  de- 
scribed His  revelation  to  be  the  seeking  and 
the  saving  of  the  lost.     He  showed  by  His 
deeds  that  His  heart  went  out  toward  the  sin- 
ful and  the  unworthy.    He  thus  gave,  accord- 
ing to  His  own  interpretation,  a  distinct  ob- 
ject-lesson on  the  kindly  disposition  of  God 
toward  the  undeserving.    More  than  this,  He 
explicitly  declared  in  the  parable  of  the  prodi- 
gal son,  and  in  the  related  parables,  that  God 
has  fatherly  compassion  for  the  wayward,  and 
that  there  is  joy  in  His  presence  over  one  sin- 
ner who  repenteth.     With  a  like  breadth  of 
meaning  He  represented  the  redeeming  love 
of  God  as  embracing  the  world,  and  as  setting 


TEACHING   RESPECTING   GOD       149 

its  free  bounty  within  the  reach  of  everyone 
who  will  put  himself  in  a  receptive  attitude. 
This  amounts  to  an  unmistakable  affirmation 
that  in  essential  disposition  God  is  Father  to 
the  whole  race.  Nor  is  this  affirmation  out  of 
harmony  with  the  stress  that  is  put  upon  the 
necessity  that  men  should  enter  into  the  spir- 
itual estate  of  children.  In  many  cases  they 
do  not  act  like  children  of  God;  they  do  not 
cherish  the  disposition  of  true  children;  judged 
by  their  ruling  choices  they  may  even  be  worthy 
to  be  called  rather  children  of  Satan  than  chil- 
dren of  God.  Nevertheless,  so  long  as  they 
have  unextinguished  capacities  for  good  they 
are  potentially  children  of  the  Divine  Father. 
In  consideration  of  this  remaining  potentiality 
of  goodness  they  are  the  objects  of  His  com- 
passionate and  loving  interest.  His  attitude 
is  not  overdrawn  when  He  is  represented  as 
standing  in  a  fatherly  relation  to  them.  They 
are  doubtless  sadly  in  need  of  becoming  chil- 
dren in  spiritual  disposition.  He  is  already 
a  Father  as  regards  the  deep  impulses  of  fa- 
therly pity  and  love,  else  the  reason  why  He 
should  be  willing  to  do  so  much  for  them  re- 
mains an  insoluble  enigma. 

What  has  been  said  does  not,  of  course,  sig- 
nify that  God  occupies  precisely  the  same  at- 


150  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

titude  toward  the  rebellious  and  toward  the 
obedient.  His  ethical  intensity  makes  this 
utterly  impossible.  He  delights  in  the  dutiful 
child.  He  welcomes  him  to  the  light  of  His 
complacent  love.  This  much  He  cannot  do 
for  the  still  unrepentant  sinner.  He  abhors  his 
wrong  disposition  and  defilement.  Still,  as 
cognizant  of  a  possibility  of  separating  the 
sinner  from  his  sin,  He  embraces  him  in  His 
compassionate  love.  In  this  sense  the  Chris- 
tian teaching  pronounces  God  the  Father  of 
men  universally. 

It  will  be  readily  inferred  from  statements 
previously  made  that  the  gospel  stress  upon 
the  fatherhood  of  God  does  not  imply  that  His 
righteous  sovereignty  is  put  out  of  sight  or  in 
anywise  dimmed.  Fatherhood  in  this  connec- 
tion is  not  a  name  for  weak  amiability.  It 
means  all  of  tenderness,  compassion  and  love 
that  our  minds  can  conceive,  and  much  more. 
But  these  subsist  together  with  an  infinite  re- 
gard for  righteousness  and  never  override  its 
demands.  Indeed  love  in  its  best  range  can- 
not be  thought  of  as  colliding  with  righteous- 
ness, as  has  been  remarked,  for  love  seeks  well- 
being,  and  the  highest  well-being  cannot  exist 
apart  from  righteousness.  There  is  thus  in 
the  Christian  thought  of  God  a  combination 


TEACHING   RESPECTING   GOD       151 

of  the  infinitely  amiable  and  the  infinitely  rev- 
erend. He  is  no  less  a  father  because  He  is 
the  righteous  sovereign,  and  no  less  the  right- 
eous sovereign  because  He  is  a  father.  He  has 
patience  and  superabundance  of  grace  to  help 
away  from  sin ;  but  the  authoritative  messenger 
of  His  grace  Himself  warns  us  that  the  incor- 
rigibly wicked  must  ultimately  be  left  with- 
out any  refuge. 

IV:     The  Christian  View  of  Prayer  as  Shaped  by 
the  Recognition  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God 

The  representation  of  God  as  Father  is 
closely  related  to  the  Christian  conception  of 
prayer.  According  to  that  conception  prayer 
is  the  trustful  approach  of  the  child  to  the  su- 
preme Father,  and  the  humble  confident  pres- 
entation to  Him  of  heartfelt  needs.  So  Christ 
described  it,  not  only  in  the  form  of  petition 
which  He  gave  to  His  disciples,  but  also  in 
the  distinct  appeal  to  the  parental  relation 
which  He  employed  when  He  sought  to 
awaken  in  those  disciples  full  confidence  in 
bringing  forward  their  requests. 

In  the  gospel  view  prayer  is  no  piece  of  ma- 
gic or  merit-winning  performance.  It  is  the 
simple,    unsophisticated,    normal   attitude   of 


152   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  dependent  member  of  the  great  spiritual 
household,  who  feels  and  acknowledges  his 
need.  Taken  in  this  character  its  propriety  is 
unassailable,  at  least  if  the  dependence  of  men 
and  the  fatherhood  of  God  are  to  be  accepted. 
Doubtless  it  has  sometimes  been  imagined  that 
the  reign  of  law  puts  a  veto  upon  the  efficacy 
of  prayer.  But  so  far  is  the  conception  of  law 
from  being  antagonistic  to  prayer  that  it  is 
actually  helpful  toward  an  understanding  of 
its  value.  There  is  no  law  beyond,  or  inde- 
pendent of,  God ;  and  why  should  it  not  be  the 
habit  or  law  of  His  will  to  respond  graciously 
to  the  trustful  approaches  of  a  child?  Would 
it  illustrate  the  reign  of  law  if  a  child,  who 
hides  away  morosely  in  a  dark  corner  of  the 
house,  should  get  precisely  the  same  benefits 
from  the  filial  relation  as  does  the  one  who 
comes  confidingly  into  the  presence  of  par- 
ents? It  is  the  demand  of  law  that  where  the 
conditions  are  varied  the  results  should  also 
be  varied.  True  prayer  brings  an  important 
modifying  condition  into  the  life.  It  opens 
up  such  connections  with  the  higher  sphere 
that  it  is  perfectly  reasonable  to  believe  that 
it  becomes  the  channel  for  the  incoming  of 
precious  benefits.  God  is  not  grudging.  His 
bounty  is  large  and  free.    Prayer,  as  expand- 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       153 

ing  the  soul  in  worshipful  contemplation  and 
pure  aspiration,  prepares  for  the  reception  of 
this  bounty. 

V:     The  Christian  Belief  in  God's  Benevolent  Rule 
or  Providence 

The  gospel  picture  of  God's  disposition  and 
relation  to  men  implies  evidently  a  minute  and 
all-embracing  providence.  As  has  been  seen, 
we  are  invited  to  think  of  the  heavenly  Father 
as  one  who  notes  the  fall  of  the  sparrow  and 
numbers  the  very  hairs  upon  the  heads  of  His 
children.  Now,  it  must  be  admitted  that  ap- 
pearances do  not  always  harmonize  with  such 
a  conception  of  divine  providence.  In  fact, 
almost  any  life  includes  experiences  which 
suggest  the  unheeding  attitude  on  the  part  of 
God.  He  seems  to  hide  Himself  just  at  the 
point  where  He  is  most  needed.  The  rescu- 
ing hand  fails  to  be  outstretched,  and  disaster 
is  left  to  bring  its  full  measure  of  pain  and 
wreckage.  A  pessimistic  temper  can  un- 
doubtedly find  enough  with  which  to  gratify 
its  appetite  for  the  somber  and  doleful.  Never- 
theless we  are  persuaded  that  it  is  the  more 
reasonable,  as  well  as  the  happier,  disposition 
which  keeps  in  sympathy  with  the  gospel  view 


154   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  divine  providence.  Over  against  the  trouble- 
some and  enigmatic  in  human  experience  we 
may  place  such  considerations  as  the  follow- 
ing: 

1.  There  is  a  general  impress  of  benevo- 
lence upon  the  order  of  the  world  as  related  to 
the  human  family.  The  days  when  things  have 
a  genial  and  kindly  aspect  greatly  prepon- 
derate over  those  which  are  associated  with 
violence  and  terror.  Moreover,  elements  of 
asperity  in  men's  surroundings  may  be  re- 
garded as  having  a  disciplinary  office.  In  the 
ministry  of  discipline  by  a  scheme  of  law  this 
or  that  individual  may  suffer  unduly,  and  yet 
the  general  result  be  such  as  might  be  aimed 
at  by  benevolence. 

2.  There  is  no  demand  to  pass  judgment  on 
divine  providence,  as  though  it  was  its  purpose 
to  settle  all  accounts  with  the  individual  in 
the  brief  span  of  this  life.  Opportunities  for 
compensation  may  be  held  in  reserve  for  those 
who  seem  to  have  had  more  than  their  suit- 
able portion  of  the  bitter  cup. 

3.  Inasmuch  as  God  is  not  the  sole  agent 
in  the  world,  much  of  the  evil  that  men  endure 
is  by  no  means  chargeable  to  His  supervision. 
There  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  He 
could  prevent  the  ills  which  misdirected  free 


TEACHING   RESPECTING  GOD       155 

agency  induces,  without  resorting  to  a  violent 
repression  which  would  make  the  total  result 
of  human  history  less  valuable  than  that  which 
is  actually  being  achieved. 

4.  The  worth  of  the  ideal  of  a  God  who 
exercises  a  perfectly  kindly  and  righteous 
providence  commends  it  to  our  acceptance. 
This  is  not  equivalent  to  saying  that  a  con- 
ception which  happens  to  be  pleasing  to  us 
must  therefore  be  true.  The  ideal  in  question 
is  one  that  we  cleave  to  in  our  best  moods; 
it  is  inspiring  and  ethically  ennobling.  By  all 
our  faith,  therefore,  in  that  trustworthiness  of 
our  intellectual  and  ethical  constitution,  which 
we  are  practically  compelled  to  admit  in  order 
to  get  any  standing  ground,  we  are  authorized 
to  give  credit  to  this  ideal.  To  deny  it  in- 
volves a  sort  of  suicidal  thrust  at  what  is  rec- 
ognized to  be  of  the  highest  dignity  and  worth 
in  our  own  natures. 

5.  The  gospel  ideal  of  the  God  of  provi- 
dence is  commended  to  us  by  all  the  grounds 
of  faith  in  the  clearness  of  Christ's  spiritual 
vision.  These  grounds  need  not  be  stated  here, 
as  they  have  already  been  given  at  length. 
They  include  all  that  can  be  said  for  the  con- 
clusion that  Christ  was  the  impersonation  of 
the  moral  ideal  and  was  intrusted  with  an 


156  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

extraordinary  mission  to  the  race.  One  who 
finds  this  conclusion  to  be  well  established 
must  confess  himself  to  be  well  anchored  to 
faith  in  the  rule  of  God  as  the  universal  Father. 
He  will  of  course  encounter  enigmas,  but  he 
will  not  be  disheartened  or  drawn  into  skepti- 
cism by  them.  For  the  dissipation  of  the  more 
persistent  shadows  he  will  be  content  to  wait 
for  the  dawning  of  the  perfect  and  eternal  day. 

VI:     The    Christian   Conception    of    the   Essential 
Relation  of  Christ  to  the  Heavenly  Father 

In  treating  of  the  "Lordship"  of  Christ  ref- 
erence was  made  to  texts  which  are  pertinent 
to  the  theme  of  this  section.  A  limited  num- 
ber of  citations  will,  therefore,  suffice  in  the 
present  connection.  We  wish  to  adduce  the 
most  significant  testimonies  from  three  great 
divisions  of  the  New  Testament,  namely,  the 
Johannine  writings,  the  Pauline  Epistles,  and 
the  first  three  lives  of  Christ,  commonly  men- 
tioned as  the  Synoptical  Gospels. 

By  the  general  consent  of  scholarship  the 
Gospel  of  John  ascribes  a  transcendent  son- 
ship  to  Christ.  In  its  opening  verses  it  is  de- 
clared that  He  was  in  the  beginning  with 
God,  that  all  things  were  made  by  Him,  that 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       157 

He  had  life  in  Himself,  which  life  was  the 
light  of  men.  In  the  progress  of  the  Gospel 
He  is  represented  as  vividly  conscious  of  a 
special  relation  to  the  Father.  Words  like 
these  are  credited  to  Him:  "The  Father  loveth 
the  Son,  and  hath  given  all  things  into  His 
hand.  ...  As  the  Father  raiseth  the  dead, 
and  quickeneth  them,  even  so  the  Son  also 
quickeneth  whom  He  will.  For  neither 
doth  the  Father  judge  any  man,  but  hath  given 
all  judgment  unto  the  Son,  that  all  may  honor 
the  Son  even  as  they  honor  the  Father."  A 
transcendent  order  of  consciousness  is  also 
evidenced  by  the  language  which  Christ  uses 
relative  to  sending  the  Comforter,  the  Spirit  of 
Truth.  To  speak  thus  of  sending  a  divine 
agent  surely  would  be  ill-matched  with  any- 
thing less  than  a  sense  of  a  personal  divine 
standing.  The  same  standing  is  furthermore 
very  strikingly  indicated  in  the  spiritual  de- 
pendence of  men  upon  Himself  as  asserted 
both  in  His  own  discourse  and  in  discourse 
about  Him.  What  could  be  more  unequivocal 
in  import  than  these  sentences?  "I  am  the  vine, 
ye  are  the  branches.  He  that  abideth  in  me 
and  I  in  him,  the  same  beareth  much  fruit ;  for 
apart  from  me  ye  can  do  nothing.  .  .  .  The 
witness  is  this,  that  God  gave  unto  us  eternal 


158   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

life,  and  this  life  is  in  His  Son;  he  that  hath 
the  Son  hath  life;  he  that  hath  not  the  Son 
hath  not  life."  21 

The  writings  of  Paul  evince  substantially 
the  same  conviction  as  to  the  nature  and  rank 
of  the  Son  which  is  brought  out  so  clearly  in 
the  Johannine  Gospel  and  Epistles.  The 
apostle  affirms  of  Christ:  "In  Him  were  all 
things  created,  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the 
earth,  things  visible  and  invisible,  whether 
thrones  or  dominions  or  principalities  or 
powers;  all  things  have  been  created  through 
Him  and  unto  Him;  and  He  is  before  all 
things,  and  in  Him  all  things  consist."  The 
divine  form  is  said  to  be  appropriate  to  Him, 
and  He  is  represented  as  the  judge  of  the  race, 
as  the  supreme  object  of  aspiration,  and  as  the 
one  foundation  of  the  spiritual  edifice.22  In 
the  face  of  such  a  line  of  ascriptions  to  his 
Lord,  it  is  quite  evident  that  the  apostle  had 
no  intention  of  assigning  a  creaturely  rank  to 
Him  when  he  spoke  of  Him  as  the  first  born 

of  creation — ttpootStokos  iraaris  Kriaeus  (Col.  i,  15). 

As  Von  Soden  remarks  the  genitive  here  is  not 
partitive,  since  in  that  event  the  form  would  be 
irdarjs  rrjs  Kriaews  but  it  is  rather  the  comparative 

21  John  i,  1-4,  iii,  35,  v,  20-23,  xv,  26,  xv,  5  ;  1  John  v,  11,  12, 
23  Col.   i,   16,  17;  Phil,  ii,   6,  i,  21-23,  iii,  8,  9 ;   1   Cor.   iii,   11; 
2  Cor.   v,  10. 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       159 

genitive.  "The  meaning  is,  Christ  is  there  be- 
fore every  creature.  Christ  accordingly  does 
not  fall  under  the  category  of  the  creature." 

It  has  sometimes  been  alleged  that  the 
Synoptical  Gospels  are  widely  contrasted 
with  the  Johannine  and  Pauline  writings  in 
their  lack  of  tribute  to  the  divine  sonship  of 
Christ.  But  this  judgment  seems  to  have  been 
passing  out  of  vogue  among  scholars  in  recent 
decades,  and  those  who  wish  to  eliminate  the 
force  of  the  testimonies  in  these  writings  to 
Christ's  transcendent  relationship  find  no  ex- 
pedient available  for  that  purpose  except  a 
challenging  of  the  historicity  of  the  relevant 
texts.  This  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  do;  but  it 
is  not  so  easy  to  vanquish  the  impression  of  re- 
ality which  the  total  representation  of  the 
deeds  and  words  of  the  Master  in  the  concur- 
ring reports  of  the  evangelists  continues,  age 
after  age,  to  make  upon  the  minds  of  men  who 
are  quite  remote  from  the  plane  of  unbalanced 
enthusiasm.  In  any  case  the  testimony  to  the 
lofty  rank  of  Christ  is  here  in  no  scanty  meas- 
ure. It  is  to  be  noticed  in  the  first  place  that 
He  calls  Himself  the  Son  where  the  connec- 
tion obviously  implies  that  He  is  characteriz- 
ing His  relation  to  the  Father.  In  no  in- 
stance does  He  place  Himself  on  a  parity  with 


160  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

men  in  respect  of  sonship.  He  speaks  always 
of  my  Father  and  never  of  our  Father  when 
His  own  relation  is  in  question.  The  form  of 
prayer  which  He  dictated  to  His  disciples 
makes  no  exception;  for  that  was  specifically 
a  prayer  for  their  use  and  not  one  in  which 
He  is  represented  to  have  joined  with  them. 
Again  an  equivalent  of  the  lofty  prerogative 
mentioned  in  John's  Gospel,  in  the  reference  to 
the  sending  of  the  Comforter,  is  ascribed  to 
Christ,  in  that  He  is  represented  as  one  who  is 
to  baptize  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Further  He 
asserts  for  Himself  a  decidedly  exceptional 
position  in  this  remarkable  declaration:  "All 
things  have  been  delivered  unto  me  of  my 
Father,  and  no  one  knoweth  the  Son  save  the 
Father;  neither  doth  any  know  the  Father 
save  the  Son,  and  He  to  whomsoever  the  Son 
willeth  to  reveal  Him."  Once  more,  in  claim- 
ing lordship  over  the  Sabbath  and  the  preroga- 
tive to  forgive  sins  Christ  indicated  His  con- 
sciousness that  in  an  extraordinary  sense  He 
was  the  Son  of  God.23 

Other  parts  of  the  New  Testament  besides 
these  three  main  divisions  make  a  contribution 
quite  in  line  with  their  testimonies.     In  both 

23  Matt,  vii,  21,  xxiv,  36,  iii,  11;  Mark  i,  8;  Luke  xxiv,  49; 
Matt,  xi,  27  ;  Luke  x,  22 ;  Matt,  xii,  8,  ix,  2-6 ;  Mark  ii,  5-11 ; 
Luke  v,  20-24. 


TEACHING   RESPECTING   GOD       161 

the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  Book  of 
Revelation  are  very  lofty  ascriptions  to  Christ. 


VII:     The  Christian  Teaching  on  the  Nature  and 
Office  of  the  Holy  Spirit 

The  New  Testament  in  an  abundant  list  of 
passages  refers  to  the  Holy  Spirit's  works  of 
intelligence,  and  such  works  of  intelligence 
as  manifestly  belong  to  a  divine  rather  than 
to  a  creaturely  range.24  This  name,  there- 
fore, plainly  designates  an  agent  at  once 
personal  and  divine.  The  divinity  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  furthermore  attested  by  the 
enormity  of  the  sin  against  Him.25  The  Chris- 
tian consciousness  also  bears  a  cogent  testimony 
to  His  divinity.  No  work  can  appear  to  the 
Christian  more  truly  divine  than  the  renewal  or 
sanctification  of  the  soul.  Accordingly,  he 
cannot  consent  to  rate  the  agent  of  that  work 
as  less  than  divine.  Within  the  circle  of  vital 
Christian  experience  no  question  can  rationally 
be  made  about  the  divinity  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

While  the  personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  not  subject  to  doubt,  a  question  respecting 

24  Matt,  x,  20  ;  Mark  xiii,  11 ;  Luke  xii,  11,  12  ;  John  xiv,  16,  17  ; 
Acts  i,  16,  ii,  4,  v,  32,  x,  19,  xiii,  2,  xvi,  6,  xx,  23 ;  Rom.  viii, 
14-16.  26,  27  ;  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  11,  xii,  3-11 ;  1  John  v,  7,  8. 

36  Matt,  xii,  31,  32  ;  Mark  iii,  28,  29  ;  Luke  xii,  10 ;  Acts  v,  3,  9 ; 
Eph.  iv,  30. 


162   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

His  distinct  personality  is  not  so  unequivo- 
cally excluded.  In  many  of  the  scriptural 
passages  the  Spirit  to  whom  works  of  intelli- 
gence are  ascribed  is  not  so  fully  distinguished 
but  that  He  might  be  regarded  as  standing 
for  God  acting  in  a  particular  way  or  sphere ; 
in  other  words,  as  denoting  God  in  a  particular 
order  of  manifestations  rather  than  a  distinct 
person  in  the  Godhead;  or  at  least  as  denot- 
ing no  other  Divine  Person  than  the  Father 
or  the  Son.  But  there  are  a  number  of  pas- 
sages that  cannot  with  propriety  be  denied  a 
reference  to  a  distinct  Divine  Person.  Not 
only  in  John's  discourse  about  the  Comforter,26 
but  also  in  the  baptismal  formula,27  and  in  vari- 
ous sentences  of  the  Epistles,28  the  spirit  is  co- 
ordinated with  the  Father  and  the  Son  in  a 
manner  which  implies  a  personality  in  some 
real  sense  distinct. 

In  respect  of  office,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  rep- 
resented as  having  to  do  with  all  that  enters 
into  the  spiritual  equipment  and  transforma- 
tion of  men.  He  empowers  for  extraordinary 
works  and  special  service.29  He  is  the  source 
of  inspired  speech.30    He  is  the  efficient  agent 

28  John  xiv,  16,   17,  26,  xvi,  7-13. 
17  Matt,   xxviii,    19. 

^Eph.    ii,    18,    22,    iv,    4-6;    1    Cor.    xii,    4-6;    2    Cor.   xiii,    14; 
1  Pet.  i,  2. 

28  1  Cor.  xii,  4-11. 
30  Luke  xii,  12. 


TEACHING   RESPECTING   GOD       163 

in  regeneration,31  and  the  spring  of  filial  con- 
fidence toward  God.32  He  sheds  abroad  the 
love  of  God  in  the  heart.33  He  assists  to  a 
sense  of  companionship  with  the  invisible 
Saviour  by  taking  the  things  of  Christ  and 
showing  them  unto  the  disciple.34  He  consoles 
and  illuminates.35  The  fruits  of  His  indwell- 
ing are  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  kind- 
ness, goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  tem- 
perance.36 

VIII:     Completion  of  the  Christian  Conception  of 
God  in  tlie  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity 

As  appears  from  the  foregoing  discussion, 
and  as  has  been  confessed  by  others  than  repre- 
sentatives of  Trinitarian  communions,  New 
Testament  phraseology  has  a  Trinitarian  cast, 
in  that  it  incloses  a  recurring  reference  to 
Father,  Son,  and  Spirit.  It  may  be  con- 
tended, no  doubt,  that  these  three  names  can 
be  understood  as  representing  three  aspects, 
or  forms  of  manifestation,  of  one  fundamental 
entity.  But  there  is  a  double  objection  to 
this  proposition.     It  implies  that  something 

"John  iii,  5-8. 

32  Rom.  viii,  10. 

83  Rom.   v,   5. 

34  John  xv,  26,  xvi,  13,  14. 

"John   xiv,    16-18,   26. 

38  Gal.   v,   22,  23. 


164  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

other  than  the  personal  serves  as  the  back- 
ground of  the  personal  and  is  to  be  rated  as  the 
ultimate  reality,  whereas  sound  theistic  phi- 
losophy will  not  admit  that  the  personal  is 
derivative  or  secondary.  Furthermore  the 
Scriptures  give  no  countenance  to  the  notion 
that  there  is  anything  back  of  the  Divine 
Father  to  which  He  is  related  as  a  form  of 
manifestation.  On  the  contrary,  He  is  Him- 
self depicted  as  the  ultimate,  the  eternal  source 
whence  issue  eternally  the  Son  and  the  Spirit. 
This  representation  might  open  an  oppor- 
tunity to  characterize  the  Son  and  the  Spirit 
as  manifestations  of  the  Father.  In  one  sense 
they  undoubtedly  are.  The  important  fact, 
however,  is  to  be  noted  that  the  sense  is  not 
simply  an  impersonal  one.  The  Bible  assigns 
to  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  characteristics  which 
we  associate  with  personalities,  and  makes 
them  subjects  for  fellowship  with  the  Father. 
This  is  abundantly  true  of  the  former.  The 
Spirit  is  not  so  definitely  pictured  as  a  subject 
for  fellowship,  but  is  assigned  various  char- 
acteristics belonging  to  personalities.  Occa- 
sion, therefore,  arises  for  asserting  real  dis- 
tinctions in  the  Godhead,  such  distinctions  as 
catholic  Christian  thought  has  counted  it  ad- 
missible to  define  as  "personal,"  selecting  this 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       165 

term  as  the  best  approximation  to  a  descrip- 
tion of  that  which,  as  unique,  is  confessedly- 
above  the  reach  of  full  and  exact  exposition. 
A  trinitarian  conception  of  this  order  is 
not  destitute  of  support  in  the  domain  of  rea- 
son or  philosophy.  It  can  be  urged  that  in  the 
creaturely  sphere  there  is  much  to  suggest  the 
conclusion  that  a  species  of  trinality  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  more  complete  being  and  the 
more  complete  process,  and  that  accordingly 
the  all-perfect  Being  may  be  presumed  to  be 
in  a  highly  important  sense  trinal  or  triune. 
A  more  weighty  consideration  lies  in  a  rational 
view  of  the  demands  of  self-sufficiency  in  God. 
If  He  is  to  be  accounted  perfect  in  nature  and 
experience,  He  must  be  regarded  as  having 
adequate  resources  in  Himself  for  meeting  all 
the  demands  of  the  infinitely  perfect  life. 
Among  these  demands  the  ethical  rank  fore- 
most, and  since  love  is  central  to  ethical  values 
it  must  be  regarded  as  central  to  the  life  of 
God.  But  love  demands  fellowship,  and  per- 
fect fellowship  subsists  only  between  persons 
who  are  essentially  in  the  same  plane.  The 
infinite  outflow  of  divine  affection  gets  at  once 
its  suitable  object  and  its  suitable  response  only 
as  there  is  a  plurality  of  Divine  Persons. 
Creatures  in  their  imperfection  and  limitation 


166  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

make  an  inadequate  object.  In  spite  of  them 
a  unipersonal  God  must  remain  forever  in 
comparative  solitude. 

Philosophy  has  thus  its  word  in  behalf  of  the 
trinitarian  representation.  The  most  distinct 
basis,  however,  for  that  representation  is  con- 
tained in  revelation.  The  Scriptures  are  per- 
meated with  the  thought  of  Father,  Son,  and 
Spirit.  A  distinct  trinality  is  unquestionably 
characteristic  of  God  in  the  sphere  of  manifes- 
tation; and  what  is  so  thoroughly  character- 
istic of  God  in  the  sphere  of  manifestation 
may  rationally  be  supposed  to  be  fundamen- 
tally grounded,  in  other  words,  to  rest  upon 
eternal  and  necessary  distinctions. 

It  is  by  no  means  to  be  overlooked  that  such 
trinality  as  Christian  thought  affirms  of  God 
is  entirely  compatible  with  a  fundamental 
unity.  The  trinality  does  not  imply  that  there 
are  independent  Divine  Persons.  The  Son 
does  not  exist,  and  cannot  exist,  apart  from 
the  Father  any  more  than  the  radiance  of 
light  can  exist  after  the  extinction  of  the  light. 
Equally  the  Holy  Spirit  cannot  exist  apart 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son.  Furthermore, 
all  conflict  in  respect  of  feeling,  willing  and 
acting  on  the  part  of  the  Divine  Persons  is 
excluded.     The  Son  can  no  more  be  at  vari- 


TEACHING  RESPECTING  GOD       167 

ance  with  the  Father  than  perfect  wisdom  can 
contradict  perfect  wisdom,  or  perfect  holiness 
contradict  perfect  holiness.  In  like  manner 
there  cannot  be  the  least  approach  to  dis- 
agreement between  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the 
Father,  or  between  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the 
Son.  A  harmony  like  that  of  the  sweetest 
and  most  ravishing  music — the  incomparable 
symphony — ever  prevails  between  these  Divine 
Persons.  God  is  not  less  a  unity  because  He  is 
a  unity  which  includes  diversity. 

In  connection  with  this  theme  dogmatic  dis- 
cretion will  put  a  curb  on  the  formulating  pro- 
pensity. To  impose  upon  any  one  the  tortur- 
ing artificialities  of  the  so-called  "Athanasian 
Creed  "  37  is  to  indulge  in  a  most  unwarrant- 
able persecution.  As  is  the  case  with  all  at- 
tempts to  explore  ultimate  reality,  the  effort 
to  expound  the  Trinity  necessarily  impinges 
upon  profound  mystery.  Perhaps  the  best 
illustrative  analogy  to  which  we  can  appeal 
is  to  be  found  in  the  facts  of  divine  immanence 
as  very  commonly  recognized  in  enlightened 
religious  thought.  God,  we  may  say,  is  imma- 
nent in  us  according  to  our  very  limited  ca- 
pacity.   In  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  the  Father 

^  It  has  long  been  recognized  that  Athanasius  is  to  be  excused 
from  having  had  anything  to  do  with  it.  An  incomparably  better 
specimen  of  creedal  propriety  is  supplied  by  the  Nicene  Creed. 


168  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

is  immanent  according  to  their  measureless  ca- 
pacity. He  is  immanent  in  us  by  His  own 
choice,  upon  which  our  very  being  depends. 
He  is  immanent  in  the  Son  and  the  Spirit  by 
an  eternal  necessity. 


CHAPTER    V:     THE    CHRISTIAN 

TEACHING  RESPECTING  THE 

NATURE    AND    CONDITION 

OF   MAN 

i*:     The  Biblical  and  Rational  View  of  Man's  Origm 

A  striking  way  of  expressing  his  thought  on 
the  origin  of  man  is  employed  by  the  author 
of  the  third  Gospel.  After  running  back  the 
genealogy  of  Jesus  to  Adam,  he  defines  this 
first  man  as  the  "son  of  God."  In  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  it  is  said  that  God  made 
man  in  his  own  image  and  likeness.  These  two 
representations  contain  essentially  the  same 
meaning.  They  imply  that  man's  advent  into 
the  world  was  determined  by  the  intelligence 
and  will  of  the  Supreme  Person,  that  he  was 
endowed  with  intellectual  and  ethical  attributes 
which  reflect  in  important  respects  the  nature 
of  this  Person,  that  accordingly  the  one  is 
qualified  for  a  relation  of  fellowship  with  the 
other  analogous  to  that  of  the  child  with  the 
father. 

We  may  add  that  this  is  substantially  all 

169 


170  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

that  Christianity  has  any  interest  to  establish 
respecting  the  primal  origin  of  man.  It  can- 
not be  seen  to  require  more  even  if  it  be  re- 
garded as  building  distinctly  upon  a  biblical 
basis.  For,  while  the  Bible  as  a  whole  ever 
keeps  in  view  man's  intimate  relation  with 
God,  it  does  not  rear  any  important  super- 
structure upon  the  details  of  the  story  of  crea- 
tion and  the  first  experiences  of  the  human 
family.  In  fact,  it  almost  wholly  ignores  them. 
The  root  ideas  in  these  early  narratives — such 
as  the  absolute  supremacy  of  God,  man's  re- 
flection of  the  divine  nature  in  his  intellectual 
and  ethical  being,  the  sanctity  of  marriage, 
and  the  initiation  of  moral  evil  by  an  abuse 
of  freedom — are  indeed  built  upon  either  im- 
plicitly or  explicitly  to  a  very  considerable  ex- 
tent. But  the  case  is  quite  otherwise  with  the 
circumstantial  items.  It  is  not  discoverable  that 
the  Old  Testament,  aside  from  one  or  two  un- 
certain instances,1  refers  back  to  a  single  special 
item  contained  in  the  creation  narrative  or  in 
the  account  of  the  life  in  paradise.  The  New 
Testament  preserves  a  nearly  equal  silence. 
Most  of  the  few  references  to  the  first  chapters 
of  Genesis  in  which  it  indulges  are  simply  for 
illustrative   purposes.      The   reference   which 

'Job  xxxi,  33;   Hosea,  vi,  7. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     171 

has  by  far  the  most  doctrinal  significance  is 
that  in  which  Paul  contrasts  Adam  as  the 
fountainhead  of  sin  and  death  with  the  right- 
eous and  life-bearing  Christ,2  and  here  it  is  to 
be  observed  that  the  essential  propriety  of  the 
reference  is  in  no  wise  dependent  upon  any 
outward  particulars  of  a  primitive  history. 
Let  it  be  understood  that  Adam  stands  for  the 
first  man  who  was  the  first  sinner  of  the  race, 
and  the  Pauline  argument  would  have  just 
the  same  validity,  even  though  a  totally  differ- 
ent environment  from  the  one  sketched  in 
Genesis  should  be  pictured  for  the  first  trans- 
gressor. That  Paul  spoke  of  him  as  Adam 
cannot,  of  course,  be  counted  of  any  impor- 
tance; in  fact,  "Adam"  in  the  Hebrew  is  just 
a  name  for  "man."  In  the  recorded  words  of 
Christ  the  name  of  Adam  is  not  so  much  as 
mentioned,  nor  is  there  a  single  distinct  refer- 
ence to  any  item  associated  with  paradise  or 
with  the  fall  of  the  first  parents.  We  are 
entirely  warranted,  therefore,  in  affirming  that 
a  theology  which  goes  beyond  the  root  ideas, 
or  fundamental  religious  conceptions,  of  the 
first  part  of  Genesis,  and  builds  upon  the 
special  items  of  those  primitive  stories  as  neces- 
sary foundations,  goes  distinctly  contrary  to 

2  Rom.  v,  12-19  ;  1  Cor.  xv,  21,  22. 


172  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  example  of  the  Bible  itself.  The  real  bib- 
lical system  does  not  depend  upon  those  items. 
They  could  be  put  out  of  sight  without  detract- 
ing from  the  grounds  on  which  that  system 
is  approved  to  a  rational  faith. 

What  has  been  stated  amounts  to  a  declara- 
tion that  Christianity  has  no  occasion  to  quar- 
rel with  any  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  race 
which  the  facts  seem  to  demand.  If  continued 
investigation  should  thoroughly  establish  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  as  containing  the  true 
theory  of  the  origin  of  organic  nature,  the  re- 
sult would  be  perfectly  agreeable  to  Christian- 
ity. Evolution,  as  a  scientific  theory,  does  not 
contradict  anything  which  the  Christian  reli- 
gion is  concerned  to  maintain.  It  may  advise 
that  certain  picturesque  details  of  the  primitive 
stories  respecting  the  world  and  its  inhabitants 
should  not  be  taken  as  literal  description.  But 
that  is  of  the  very  slightest  consequence.  The 
thought  of  God  as  Creator  is  not  damaged  in 
the  least  by  evolution  theory  pure  and  simple. 
For,  obviously,  method  cannot  take  the  place 
of  an  agent,  and  the  scientific  theory  of  evo- 
lution is  simply  a  theory  as  to  method.  The 
Christian  is  perfectly  free  to  assume  that  the 
evolutionary  process  is  the  method  chosen  of 
God  for  bringing  in  the  ascending  series  of 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     173 

organic  forms ;  that  He  is  the  all-powerful  and 
omnipresent  agent  who  initiated  the  process, 
who  controls  its  continuous  operation,  and  who 
leads  it  on  to  results  worthy  of  His  wisdom 
and  might. 

As  the  doctrine  of  evolution  in  its  proper 
character  does  not  deny  the  personal  Creator, 
nor  curtail  His  glory,  so  it  conflicts  with  noth- 
ing which  Christianity  is  interested  to  affirm 
respecting  man.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
antecedents  of  man,  he  must  be  judged  to  be 
what  he  gives  evidence  of  being.  A  partial, 
essentially  exterior,  view  of  his  antecedents 
can  never  afford  any  certain  measure  of  his 
nature,  as  not  necessarily  including  all  that 
contributes  to  his  constitution.  Now  science 
takes  this  partial  view.  It  notes  the  apparent 
connection  of  things,  or  their  relations  in  re- 
spect of  time,  place,  and  resembling  features. 
The  more  interior  bond  of  connection,  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  immanent  Divine  Agent,  it 
cannot,  in  the  use  of  its  own  resources,  discover 
or  adequately  estimate.  Leaving  the  field  per- 
fectly open  for  the  operation  of  the  efficiency 
in  question,  it  evidently  leaves  it  open  for  con- 
veying to  man,  or  bringing  to  manifestation 
in  him,  this  or  that  characteristic  over  and 
above  those  which  may  be  discoverable  in  his 


174  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

antecedents.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  he 
should  be  measured  by  his  antecedents,  at  least 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  one  great  antecedent, 
the  efficiency  of  the  immanent  Divine  Agent. 
In  the  working  of  that  efficiency  an  intelligible 
basis  is  supplied  for  all  the  higher  characteris- 
tics of  man  which  distinguish  him  from  other 
species  of  living  beings,  whatever  may  have 
been  his  historical  relation  to  any  of  those 
species.  Let  the  process  be  supposed  to  have 
taken  account  of  this  or  that  factor  or  link  in 
the  chain  of  organic  lif  e,  the  truth  still  remains, 
in  full  certitude  and  significance,  that  God 
made  man  to  be  a  child  of  God. 

It  is  not  denied  that  the  theory  of  evolution 
may  be  so  construed  as  to  compromise  the  dig- 
nity of  man  and  to  contradict  the  Christian 
view  of  his  place  and  destiny.  But  in  that  case 
it  becomes  other  than  scientific.  So  long  as  the 
theory  is  not  compounded  with  some  sweeping 
assumption,  borrowed  from  an  adventurous 
anti-theistic  philosophy,  it  antagonizes  no  real 
interest  of  the  Christian  religion.  That  reli- 
gion may  properly  adopt  a  neutral  attitude,  be- 
ing content  with  the  well-approved  conclusion 
that  man  came  from  God,  and  that  each  hu- 
man individual  is  born  potentially  a  child  of 
God. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     175 

II:     Man's  Dual  Nature 

It  is  a  ruling  conception  in  the  Scriptures 
that  man  is  possessed  at  once  of  a  sensuous  and 
a  supersensuous  nature.  The  latter  is  de- 
scribed by  various  terms  in  both  Testaments, 
notably  by  soul,  spirit,  and  heart.  A  compari- 
son of  passages  shows  that,  while  these  differ- 
ent terms  do  not  have  precisely  the  same  range 
of  significance,  they  are  treated  very  largely  as 
synonymous.  The  conclusion  must  be  that  the 
sacred  writers  employed  them  in  a  popular 
manner  and  without  a  thought  of  mapping  out 
in  a  scientific  way  man's  inner  nature. 

Paul,  it  may  be  granted,  seems  at  first  sight 
to  present  an  exception.  He  shows  quite  gen- 
erally a  preference  for  the  term  "spirit"  when 
speaking  of  man's  higher  nature.  In  certain 
connections  also  he  makes  a  contrast  between 
spirit  and  soul,  to  a  relative  disparagement  of 
the  latter.  Thus  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
First  Corinthians  he  puts  the  psychical  (or 
soulish)  man  in  very  unfavorable  comparison 
with  the  pneumatic  (or  spiritual)  man.  Such 
usage  naturally  suggests  that  Paul  may  have 
regarded  man  as  a  threefold  being,  or  as  pos- 
sessed of  body,  soul,  and  spirit.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  the  apostle 


176  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

does  not  uniformly  use  the  term  soul  in  the 
restricted  or  unfavorable  sense.3  In  any  case, 
he  cannot  be  alleged  to  have  dogmatically  in- 
culcated the  threefold  division  of  man's  nature. 
As  for  the  New  Testament  outside  of  the 
of  the  Pauline  epistles,  it  not  infrequently  em- 
ploys the  word  soul  as  if  it  were  understood 
to  embrace  the  entire  supersensuous  nature  of 
man.  We  find,  then,  a  certain  ground  for 
supposing  only  a  relative  distinction  between 
soul  and  spirit,  both  terms  having  reference 
to  the  same  supersensuous  essence,  but  "spirit" 
being  used  prevailingly  to  name  that  essence 
in  its  higher  or  Godward  relations,  and  "soul" 
being  sometimes  employed,  though  not  con- 
stantly, to  designate  the  same  essence  in  its 
bodily  or  earthward  connections.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  biblical  teaching  in  no  wise  requires  us 
to  regard  the  soul  as  substantially  distinct 
from  the  spirit  and  interposed  between  it  and 
the  body.  It  leaves  us  free  to  appeal  to  ra- 
tional grounds  in  deciding  between  the  dual 
and  the  threefold  division,  or,  as  the  technical 
phrase  runs,  between  dichotomy  and  trichot- 
omy. 

Approaching  the  subject  on  this  basis  we 
may  readily  discover  reasons  for  preferring 

3  Rom.  ii,  9,  xiii,  1 ;  2  Cor.  i,  23 ;  PhiL  i,  27. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN    17T 

the  twofold  division.  It  is  more  simple  and 
intelligible.  Between  spirit  and  matter, 
sharply  contrasted  as  they  are  in  every  respect, 
we  are  quite  unable  mentally  to  construct  any 
mean.  If  the  soul,  therefore,  is  made  essen- 
tially distinct  from  the  spirit  we  seem  to  be 
under  compulsion  to  construe  it  as  a  kind  of 
subordinate  spirit  functionally  intermediate 
between  the  body  and  the  higher  spirit.  But  in 
this  character  the  soul,  unless  made  purely  in- 
strumental to  the  spirit,  just  as  the  body  is, 
would  seem  to  conflict  with  the  demands  of 
personal  unity.  Two  real  agents  bound  to- 
gether with  the  body  cannot  seem  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  a  unitary  subject.  At  any 
rate  they  complicate  the  problem  of  personal 
unity.  On  the  other  hand,  two  instruments 
connected  with  one  agent  would  seem  contra- 
dictory to  the  principle  of  economy.  The 
spirit  might  just  as  well  be  thought  of  as  op- 
erating in  connection  with  the  body  at  first 
hand  as  through  the  medium  of  the  soul.  So 
the  intermediate  factor  is  discredited  as  a  su- 
perfluity, and  the  twofold  division  claims  the 
rational  preference. 

From  the  Christian  point  of  view  man 
stands  for  the  union  of  nature  and  spirit.  The 
corporeal  side  of  his  being,  though  subordi- 


178  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

nated  to  the  spiritual,  is  treated  with  high 
appreciation.  Nowhere  does  the  Bible  pass 
upon  the  body  a  disparaging  or  condemnatory 
sentence.  It  draws  an  antithesis,  it  is  true,  in 
not  a  few  instances  between  man's  physical 
being  and  the  majestic  order  of  being  which 
belongs  to  God.  But  the  contrast  is  between 
the  frail  and  evanescent  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  mighty  and  enduring  on  the  other,  not  the 
contrast  between  the  evil  and  the  good.  So  it 
is  depicted  by  the  Old  Testament  writers. 
Describing  man  from  this  point  of  view  the 
Psalmist  exclaims:  "As  for  man  his  days  are 
as  grass ;  as  a  flower  of  the  field,  so  he  flourish- 
eth.  For  the  wind  passeth  over  it  and  it  is 
gone;  and  the  place  thereof  shall  know  it  no 
more."  4  As  in  this,  so  in  all  similar  strains  in 
the  ancient  Jewish  oracles  it  is  simply  the 
frailty  of  man  as  a  physical  subject  which  is 
emphatically  portrayed.  No  condemnation 
attaches  to  him  in  that  character. 

In  the  New  Testament  there  is  a  line  of  ex- 
pressions which  might  perhaps  be  taken  as 
representative  of  a  different  point  of  view. 
Paul,  it  must  be  admitted,  described  the  flesh 
in  various  connections  in  such  disparaging 
terms  as  the  most  radical  exponent  of  ascetic 

*Ps.  ciii,  15,  16. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN    179 

theory  might  be  inclined  to  employ.  "I  know- 
that  in  me,"  he  says,  "that  is,  in  my  flesh, 
dwelleth  no  good  thing."  "The  mind  of  the 
flesh  is  enmity  against  God;  for  it  is  not  sub- 
ject to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can  it 
be."  "The  flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit,  and 
the  spirit  against  the  flesh;  for  these  are  con- 
trary to  one  another."  5  What  did  Paul  mean 
by  such  declarations?  A  whole  group  of  con- 
siderations makes  it  incredible  that  he  meant 
to  condemn  man's  sensuous  nature  as  in  itself 
sinful.  (1)  The  apostle  includes  in  his  cata- 
logue of  the  works  of  the  flesh  various  orders 
of  sins  which  have  no  special  association  with 
the  physical  members.  The  natural  inference 
is  that  by  the  flesh  he  meant  something  other 
than  the  mere  instrument  of  the  sensuous  life. 
(2)  The  apostle  indicates  that  he  did  not  re- 
gard the  flesh,  in  the  character  of  material  sub- 
stance, to  be  intrinsically  evil,  inasmuch  as  he 
conceives  Christ  both  to  have  come  in  the  flesh 
and  to  have  been  sinless.  (3)  He  plainly  con- 
tradicts the  supposition  that  the  flesh  is  essen- 
tially evil  by  representing  it  to  be  a  subject 
for  sanctification.  (4)  Ample  reason  for  be- 
lieving that  he  repudiated  the  same  supposi- 
tion is  found  in  the  fact  that  he  characterizes 

6  Rom.  vii,  18,  viii,  7;  Gal.  v,  17. 


180  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  body  as  worthy  to  be  quickened  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  as  fit  to  be  offered  to  God  in 
sacrifice  or  consecration,  as  being  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  being  a  subject  together 
with  the  soul  and  spirit  for  complete  sancti- 
fication.6 

Before  such  an  array  of  evidence  it  is  impos- 
sible to  escape  the  conclusion  that  Paul  in  the 
connections  in  which  he  seems  to  attach  an  evil 
sense  to  the  flesh  had  much  more  in  mind  than 
the  simple  physical  being  of  man.  By  the 
flesh  he  meant  not  merely  the  body,  or  its  pliable 
substance,  but  the  unregenerate  man  who  is  so 
apt  to  use  the  bodily  members  in  unworthy 
gratifications. 

In  the  measure  of  formal  attention  which 
Paul  awards  to  the  theme  of  the  resurrection  he 
pays  greater  tribute  to  the  significance  of  the 
body  than  does  any  other  New  Testament 
writer.  There  is  no  occasion,  however,  to 
doubt  that  it  was  the  common  thought  of  the 
apostles  and  the  entire  early  Church  that  the 
resurrection  is  to  introduce  men  to  an  em- 
bodied existence.  In  some  references  to  the 
resurrection,  it  may  be  granted,  the  stress  is 
rather  upon  the  coming  forth  of  the  dead  into 
a  sphere  of  vital  existence  than  upon  their 

1  Gal.    v,    19-21  ;    Rom.    i,   3 ;    Phil,    ii,    8 ;    2    Cor.   v,    21,    vii,    1 : 
Bom.  viii,  11,  xii,  1 ;  l  Cor.  vi,  19  ;  1  Thess.  v,  23. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     181 

investment  with  bodies.  This  is  true  of  promi- 
nent sayings  of  Christ.7  But  stress  upon  the 
former  point — undeniably  by  far  the  more  im- 
portant— involves  no  denial  of  the  latter,  so 
that  there  is  a  distinct  balance  in  favor  of  re- 
garding the  latter  as  representative  of  the 
New  Testament  way  of  thinking.  Nor  can  it 
be  seen  that  Christianity,  as  a  rational  system, 
is  concerned  to  avoid  this  alternative.  Ex- 
ternal nature  is  a  vast  and  glorious  field.  It 
affords  a  grand  theater  for  the  display  of  the 
immeasurable  resources  of  wisdom,  power, 
and  beauty  which  belong  to  the  Divine  Artist. 
May  it  not  be,  then,  that  it  pertains  to  the 
ideal  life  for  man,  that  he  should  be  related  by 
means  of  a  superior  type  of  body  to  a  natural 
sphere  of  a  more  excellent  type  than  has  yet 
been  disclosed  to  his  imperfect  vision.  Rea- 
son certainly  cannot  forbid  us  to  look  for- 
ward to  such  a  consummation,  if  revelation 
invites  our  anticipations  toward  that  goal. 

Ill:     Man's  Title  to  Immortality 

The  evidence  here  adduced  concerns  the 
title  normally  belonging  to  man,  and  only 
that.    It  might  be  that  the  arguments  which  go 

'Matt,  xxii,  23-32;  Mark  xii,  18-27. 


182  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  prove  that  immortality  is  the  normal  estate 
of  all  men  depend  upon  qualities  and  rela- 
tionships which  can  either  be  earnestly  culti- 
vated or  rashly  and  stubbornly  neglected  and 
desecrated.  In  so  far  as  they  are  conditioned 
in  this  way,  it  is  evident  that  they  can  prove, 
not  that  all  men  will  certainly  possess  immor- 
tality, but  only  that  it  is  their  appropriate  and 
designed  lot. 

A  proof  for  immortality  which  is  of  very 
long  standing  is  based  upon  the  noble  order  of 
faculties  and  the  capacity  for  growth  belong- 
ing to  the  human  soul.  A  being  capable  of  ad- 
vancing along  such  high  paths  of  knowledge 
and  grand  achievement  ought  not,  it  is  legiti- 
mately felt,  to  be  plunged  into  the  endless 
night  of  cancelled  or  unconscious  existence. 
The  argument  carries  a  strong  persuasion, 
and  ought  to,  for  it  is  intrinsically  weighty. 

Combining  with  this  proof,  and  indeed  fur- 
nishing for  it  a  reliable  ground — as  affording 
a  pledge  that  man  is  not  a  subject  for  mockery 
or  gratuitous  disappointment — is  the  maxi- 
mum evidence  ever  yet  adduced.  Stated  in 
brief  that  proof  is  man's  relation  to  God  as 
held  by  genuine  theism  and  especially  Chris- 
tian theism.  Genuine  theism  predicates  a  liv- 
ing, working  God  who  is  sufficiently  interested 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN  183 

in  men  to  receive  them  into  moral  fellowship 
with  Himself.  As  subjects  of  this  fellowship 
they  are  logically  candidates  for  an  immortal 
life.  Why  should  He  who  has  immortality  in 
Himself  consign  to  dust  and  ashes  those  whom 
He  has  taken  into  moral  fellowship  ?  A  more 
incongruous  outcome  could  hardly  be  imag- 
ined. Hence  we  find  generally  that  where 
men  have  entertained  anything  like  a  theistic 
faith,  they  have  been  constrained  to  believe  in 
immortality.  This  motive  was  clearly  opera- 
tive in  Israel.  The  prophetical  conception  of 
ethical  fellowship  with  God  did  not  permit  the 
chosen  people  to  rest  upon  the  traditional  no- 
tion of  an  empty  life  in  Sheol,  but  urged  them, 
as  appears  in  later  Judaism,  to  the  hope  of  a 
vital  existence  in  preparation  beyond  death  and 
the  grave.  In  the  Gentile  world  also  a  kindred 
point  of  view  has  operated  widely  in  the  same 
direction. 

If  theism  in  general  has  this  potency,  how 
much  more  efficient  to  nurture  a  living  faith 
in  immortality  must  be  Christian  theism,  the 
representation  of  God  as  He  was  depicted  in 
the  illuminated  consciousness  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  whole  record  of  Christ's  words,  as  we  have 
them  in  the  Gospels,  is  a  testimony  to  the  fact 
that  the  immortal  life  is  the  designed  and  the 


184   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

appropriate  destiny  of  men.  Clear  as  the  radi- 
ance of  the  brightest  morning  the  truth  shines 
forth  that  God  stands  to  men  as  the  Father 
in  heaven,  and  that  men  are  called  to  dwell 
before  Him  as  children.  They  fall  short  of 
their  birthright,  and  slide  into  an  aberrant 
alienation,  save  as  they  entertain  a  vital  filial 
consciousness  toward  God.  Now  what  other 
language  can  this  filial  consciousness  employ 
than  that  of  the  immortal  hope?  There  is  in 
truth  no  gainsaying  of  the  argument  of  the 
apostle  Paul,  "If  children,  then  heirs,"  heirs 
to  something  worthy  of  the  paternal  God  to 
bestow,  heirs  to  an  inheritance  that  is  incor- 
ruptible, undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away. 
The  Gospel  portrait  of  God,  as  it  emanated 
from  the  perfect  filial  consciousness  of  Jesus, 
positively  forbids  a  doubt  about  the  unfading 
inheritance  in  store  for  men. 

In  concentrating  emphasis  upon  the  theistic 
truth,  as  it  was  taught  by  our  Lord,  we  by  no 
means  design  to  slight  the  import  of  His  res- 
urrection. It  is  our  conviction,  however,  that 
the  latter  is  auxiliary  to  the  former  rather 
than  a  satisfactory  independent  evidence. 
The  mere  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  an  indi- 
vidual would  not  necessarily  guarantee  the 
immortality  of  men  generally.    The  great  sig- 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN  185 

nificance  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  that 
it  publishes  unmistakably  the  will  and  the 
purpose  of  the  paternal  God.  In  breaking  the 
bonds  of  death  for  the  Son  of  His  love,  He 
demonstrated  in  very  apprehensible  form,  both 
His  power  and  His  intention  to  vanquish 
death  in  behalf  of  all  who  stand  in  filial  rela- 
tion to  Himself.  Taken  in  connection  with 
the  Gospel  economy  the  triumph  over  the 
grave  by  the  Captain  of  our  salvation  is  a 
pledge  of  the  triumph  prepared  for  His  fol- 
lowers. We  are  invited  by  the  outstanding 
features  of  that  economy  to  reckon  ourselves 
joint  heirs  with  Christ,  and  can  repeat  with 
all  earnestness  the  words  of  the  apostle  Peter : 
'"Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  according  to  His  great 
mercy  begat  us  again  to  a  living  hope  by  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead." 

In  the  presence  of  the  weighty  proof  which 
is  furnished  by  theistic  faith,  and  the  divine 
pledge  which  is  virtually  afforded  in  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus,  there  seems  very  scanty  pro- 
priety in  attempting  to  supplement  from  the 
transactions  of  the  seance  room.  What  re- 
liable evidence,  in  comparison,  can  the  ghostly 
messages  assumed  to  be  whispered  into  the 

8 1  retcr  i,  3. 


186  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ears  of  mediums,  or  the  strange  feats  per- 
formed in  the  name  of  spirits,  put  into  our 
possession?  Expert  investigators  assure  us 
that  fraud  has  undoubtedly  played  a  great 
part  in  these  dimly-lighted  transactions.  They 
also  render  the  judgment  that  many  of  the 
feats  accomplished  require  no  action  of  spirits, 
being  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  super- 
normal powers,  gifts  of  telepathy  and  clair- 
voyance, in  the  operating  mediums.  They 
further  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
spirits  which  are  supposed  to  transmit  the 
messages  are  evidently  very  limited  or  unre- 
liable sources  of  information,  since  they  con- 
tradict one  another  egregiously  respecting  the 
other  world  and  its  belongings.  Finally,  even 
suppose  some  messages  from  the  dead,  dic- 
tated through  spirits,  should  arrive,  they 
would  be  a  token  of  nothing  more  than  sur- 
vival, not  a  proof  of  immortality.  The  lot  of 
the  dead  might  be,  for  all  such  proof,  like 
that  which  the  old  Stoics  assigned  to  them, 
namely,  survival  for  a  period  only  and  then 
extinction  of  individual  existence.  Of  really 
satisfactory  proof  of  immortality  the  first  in- 
stallment remains  yet  to  be  made  through  this 
instrumentality.9 

8  In  writing   this  section  use  has  been   made  of   portions  of  an 
article  contributed  to  Z ion's  Herald. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN  187 

IV:     The  Moral  Outfit  of  Man 

As  a  moral  personality  man  has  a  distinctive 
endowment  in  conscience.  The  fact  of  con- 
science publishes  that  he  is  built  into  the  moral 
order  of  the  universe,  and  can  never  place  him- 
self outside  of  its  domain.  He  may  be  moral, 
or  he  may  be  immoral,  but  so  long  as  feeling 
and  intelligence  survive  he  cannot  be  simply 
non-moral.10 

Conscience,  if  we  take  the  term  in  the  broad 
sense,  includes  three  different  elements :  a  per- 
ception of  moral  distinctions,  a  sense  of  obli- 
gation to  the  right  as  opposed  to  the  wrong, 
and  a  feeling  of  self-approbation  or  self-con- 
demnation according  as  the  act  corresponds, 
or  fails  to  correspond,  with  the  judgment  of 
right  and  wrong. 

The  first  of  these  three  elements  must  be  re- 
garded as  indubitably  constitutional,  not  in 
the  sense  that  a  man  has  from  the  start  a  well- 
rounded  faculty  of  moral  judgment,  but  that 
there  is  implicit  in  his  nature  a  basis  of  certain 
moral  perceptions.  The  facts  of  his  moral  ex- 
perience cannot  be  construed  rationally  on  the 
supposition  that  he  starts  as  a  blank  in  respect 

ia  The  exposition  on  this  theme  agrees  in  substance  with  that 
given  by  the  author  in  his  "System  of  Christian  Doctrine," 
Methodist  Book  Concern,  New  York. 


188  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  his  moral  being,  any  more  than  his  intel- 
lectual experience  can  be  construed  without  a 
reference  to  positive  mental  constituents.    Let 
it  be  granted  that  perversities  of  moral  judg- 
ment often  occur,  and  that  education  mani- 
festly has  a  function  to  perform  in  relation  to 
the  moral  sense ;  an  original  endowment  in  the 
direction  of  true  moral  perception  is  not  there- 
by denied.     Were  there  no  such  endowment 
there  would  be  no  adequate  basis  for  a  con- 
sensus of  moral  judgments.     But  there  evi- 
dently is  such  a  basis.    Men  cannot  come  into 
any  largeness  of  ethical  life  without  realizing 
an  essential  community  of  ethical  principles 
through    no    inconsiderable    range.      Indeed, 
there  can  be  no  development  or  even  existence 
of  moral  personality  without  the   existence, 
virtual  or  explicit,  of  a  certain  order  of  moral 
judgments.     He  who  could  not  see  that  the 
good  will  as  opposed  to  the  malicious  will, 
where  there  is  no  knowledge  of  injury  re- 
ceived, is  obligatory,  or  that  kindness  ought 
to  be  repaid  by  gratitude  instead  of  hatred, 
would  be  described  rather  as  a  monstrosity 
than  a  representative  of  genuine  humanity. 
Certain  other  judgments  fall  under  imperative 
sanctions  wherever  they  are  soberly  and  dis- 
passionately considered.    As  Professor  Sidg- 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN  189 

wick  remarks:  "The  propositions,  'I  ought 
not  to  prefer  a  present  lesser  good  to  a  future 
greater  good,'  and  'I  ought  not  to  prefer  my 
own  lesser  good  to  the  greater  good  of  an- 
other' do  present  themselves  as  self-evident; 
as  much,  for  example,  as  the  mathematical 
axiom  that  'if  equals  be  added  to  equals,  the 
whole  will  be  equals,'  "  X1  Now,  a  moral  per- 
ception which  inevitably  appears  with  the  de- 
veloping personality  has  just  one  adequate  ex- 
planation. It  is  founded  in  man's  moral  con- 
stitution. To  derive  it  from  any  order  of 
external  circumstances  is  to  impute  the  greater 
to  the  less.  As  Professor  A.  B.  Bruce  has 
well  argued  it  is  not  the  product  of  social  rela- 
tions or  heredity  any  more  than  rationality  is 
the  product  of  language.12  It  founds  society. 
Without  a  certain  community  of  moral  percep- 
tions on  the  part  of  its  members,  society  would 
lack  all  true  cohesion.  It  has,  as  society,  no 
other  authority  than  that  of  an  aggregate  of 
individual  wills.  If  these  wills  are  severally 
destitute  of  the  guidance  of  certain  moral  per- 
ceptions, their  aggregation  can  supply  no 
trustworthy  law  of  conduct.  Society,  as  a 
moral  community,  can  be  constituted  only  out 
of  units  that  have  a  common  moral  constituent. 

11  H.   Sidgwick,   "The  Methods  of  Ethics,"   pp.  282,  283. 
""The  Providential  Order  of  the  World,"   p.  39. 


190  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

That  it  does  not  make  the  morality  of  the 
individual,  but  has  its  moral  character  in  its 
members,  is  clearly  enough  seen  in  the  fact 
that,  occasionally,  a  small  company  of  earnest 
men,  or  even  a  single  individual  of  exceptional 
character  and  gifts,  will  successfully  challenge 
society  on  some  special  point  and  start  the 
public  current  toward  an  improved  moral  per- 
ception. 

The  point  of  view  which  is  here  being  urged 
cannot  properly  be  regarded  as  prejudiced 
by  the  assignment  of  a  large  role  to  evolution. 
Morality  is  not  made  to  appear  in  consequence 
as  unfixed  or  fortuitous.  Evolution  is  not 
necessarily  accounted  a  haphazard  thing, 
something  irreconcilable  with  the  constitu- 
tional. Rather  evolution  has  its  basis  in  an 
intelligent  world-ground,  which  is  bent  upon 
securing  that  the  outcome  of  the  historical 
process  shall  be  righteousness,  and  to  this  end 
works  toward  such  a  common  stock  of  con- 
victions as  makes  men  truly  men,  beings  ca- 
pable of  moral  association.  To  possess  this 
stock  belongs  to  their  idea  or  pattern.  With 
their  normal  development  it  is  certain  to  be 
theirs,  and  in  that  sense  is  constitutional.  If 
God  is  a  living  God,  if  He  entertains  any 
ends  at  all,  instead  of  resting  in  deistic  indif- 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN   191 

ference,  He  must  ordain  an  end  of  this  kind, 
so  that  morality  is  not  left  in  the  field  of  the 
purely  undirected  or  contingent. 

The  constitutional  character  of  the  second 
element  of  conscience  must  be  regarded  as  at 
least  equally  well  established.  Every  man, 
whom  his  fellows  would  venture  to  rate  as 
of  sound  mind,  is  certain  that  there  is  a  right 
and  a  wrong,  and  that  he  is  obligated  to  follow 
the  one  to  the  rejection  of  the  other.  This 
conviction,  too,  has  its  own  distinctive  char- 
acter. An  attempt  to  translate  it  into  some- 
thing else  is  sure  to  result  in  an  unrecognizable 
substitute.  It  is  not  assuredly  another  name 
for  desire  and  aversion  founded  on  contrasted 
experiences  of  the  pleasurable  and  the  painful. 
The  question  of  ethics  is  not  what  pleases,  but 
what  ought  to  please.  Doubtless  there  is  an 
underlying  faith  in  every  healthy  spirit  that, 
in  the  ultimate  issue,  righteousness  cannot  be 
really  divorced  from  blessedness,  and  an  op- 
posite conviction  would  be  disheartening. 
But  that  by  no  means  involves  the  conclusion 
that  a  man's  personal  bearing  toward  right  and 
wrong  is  simply  his  bearing  toward  that  which 
is  esteemed  pleasurable  or  painful.  It  implies 
that  one  outlook  is  more  inspiring  than  an- 
other, and  so  better  suited  to  sustain  a  high 


192    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

sense  of  duty.  The  fact  is  that  in  the  common 
perception  of  men  right  and  wrong  on  the  one 
hand  and  pleasure  and  pain  on  the  other, 
stand  for  things  widely  separated  in  meaning. 
As  Professor  Munsterberg  puts  the  case: 
"Our  moral  consciousness  affirms  immediately 
that  when  we  are  carried  by  moral  will,  we  do 
not  aim  at  goals,  whose  value  is  determined  by 
personal  like  or  dislike.  When  we  will  the 
morally  good,  we  do  indeed  wish  that  the  good 
also  give  us  joy,  but  we  know  that  it  is  not 
the  good  simply  because  it  gives  us  pleasure."13 
The  third  element  in  conscience  is  unmis- 
takably disclosed  as  having  a  constitutional 
basis.  Why  should  a  man  ever  be  at  variance 
with  himself,  or  torture  his  own  soul  with  accu- 
sations? Whence  comes  this  swift  sentence 
which  breaks  through  all  sophistical  excuses 
and  reveals  a  man  to  himself  as  condemned 
when  he  has  done  despite  to  any  maxim  which 
he  recognizes  when  in  a  dispassionate  frame  of 
mind?  It  must  in  all  reason  be  construed  as 
the  offspring  of  a  nature  that  is  intrinsically 
moral,  as  the  reaction  of  the  constitutional  in 
man  against  the  element  of  personal  caprice. 
Nothing  adventitious  could  react  with  such 
potency  and  persistence.    By  a  merciful  pro- 

"  "The  Eternal  Values,"  p.  39. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN    193 

vision  conscience  often  requites  an  offense 
with  repeated  strokes.  By  the  sharpness  of 
its  rebuke  it  would  save  from  a  worse  punish- 
ment. Very  likely  when  we  read  the  graphic 
sketch  which  the  genius  of  Shakespeare  has 
given  of  the  way  in  which  the  inward  monitor 
smote  the  queen  who  had  been  accessory  to 
the  murder  of  the  aged  Duncan,  we  are  made 
to  feel  that  here  is  a  specimen  of  the  most 
direful  results  of  violence  to  its  behests.  But 
this  is  not  so.  The  hand  of  Lady  Macbeth 
repeatedly  addressed  to  crime  will  at  length 
cease  to  offend  and  torture  her  by  its  exhibit 
of  the  indelible  blood  stain.  In  this  very  thing 
lies  the  most  somber  aspect  of  the  subject,  that 
conscience  stubbornly  abused  will  not  fail  to 
avenge  itself  by  the  penalty  of  an  apathy  or 
paralysis  which  at  its  acme  involves  nothing 
less  than  moral  suicide. 

There  is  no  design  in  what  has  been  said  to 
minify  the  function  of  education  in  relation 
to  conscience.  It  has  an  important  function. 
But  it  is  just  because  there  are  constitutional 
elements  to  work  upon  that  there  is  a  chance 
for  anything  like  a  consistent  and  successful 
education.  Were  there  not  constitutional  apti- 
tudes in  men  for  recognizing  mathematical 
truths,  education  could  not  make  mathemati- 


194    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

cians  of  them  any  more  than  it  can  teach  ani- 
mals to  extract  the  square  root  of  numbers  or 
to  ascertain  the  circumferences  of  circles.  Ed- 
ucation does  not  create.  Its  task  is  rightly  to 
develop  the  germs  of  already  existing  capaci- 
ties and  powers.  Man  is  a  proper  subject  for 
moral  education  because  he  has  an  original  or 
constitutional  outfit  in  the  distinctive  elements 
of  conscience. 

The  declaration  has  sometimes  been  made 
that  conscience  is  the  voice  of  God  in  man.    To 
speak   thus    is    not    altogether    unwarranted. 
While  conscience  cannot  be  so  described  with- 
out qualifications,  on  account  of  the  element 
of  contingency  in  a  large  number  of  moral 
judgments,  it  is  the  bearer  of  a  divine  message. 
It  profoundly  emphasizes  the  truth  that  man 
is  the  subject  of  a  moral  order,  which  in  the 
ultimate  analysis  must  be  identified  with  God's 
order.     In  its  normal  development  it  brings 
man   more   and   more   toward   the   plane    of 
divine  thought  and  feeling  in  respect  of  moral 
distinctions.      From    the    standpoint    of    the 
Christian  view  of  intercommunion  between  the 
human  and  the  divine  it  may  be  regarded  as 
touched  and  vitalized  in  all  its  elements  by  the 
Divine  Spirit. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN    195 

V:   Man's  Gift    of   Freedom 

In  so  far  as  the  facts  of  conscience  exhibit 
man  as  a  responsible  moral  personality  they 
demonstrate  his  freedom.  The  indispensable 
condition  of  responsibility  is  freedom  in  the 
sense  of  a  power  of  choice  between  alterna- 
tives. A  mere  instrument  is  not  responsible. 
Now  a  man  who  from  the  start  is  shut  up  to  a 
particular  act,  or  series  of  acts,  with  no  power 
to  vary  the  result,  is  not  an  agent  but  an  in- 
strument pure  and  simple.  The  true  agent,  if 
there  be  any  agent  in  the  case,  is  the  one  who 
so  fashioned  him  and  adjusted  him  to  his  en- 
vironment as  to  secure  in  all  its  details  the 
actual  outcome.  It  makes  no  difference  where 
the  determining  factor  is  located,  whether 
within  or  without  the  man.  So  long  as  it  is 
viewed  as  being  in  origin  entirely  outside  of  his 
option  it  leaves  him  a  mere  instrument.  The 
fact  that  he  is  a  conscious  instrument,  or  an 
instrument  endowed  with  a  faculty  of  reason, 
cannot  be  reckoned  an  element  in  his  respon- 
sibility, so  long  as  he  is  simply  an  instrument, 
any  more  than  the  quality  of  its  metal  can  be 
charged  against  an  ax.  No  namable  quality 
or  faculty  in  him  which  does  not  bring  into 


196   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

view  a  power  to  vary  the  result  can  convey  any 
rational  suggestion  of  responsibility. 

The  claim  which  has  sometimes  been  made 
by  the  necessitarian  that  actions  irrespective 
of  their  causes  are  good  or  bad  in  their  nature, 
and  so  commendable  or  blamable,  will  not 
endure  inspection.  The  claim  confounds  two 
very  distinct  things.  Certain  orders  of  con- 
duct and  disposition  undoubtedly  are  always 
obnoxious  to  unperverted  sentiment.  A  fero- 
cious disposition  in  a  man  can  never  be  pleas- 
ing to  contemplate.  Neither  is  such  a  disposi- 
tion pleasing  to  contemplate  in  a  wild  beast 
which  has  it  by  the  simple  gift  of  nature.  No 
one,  however,  undertakes,  because  of  it,  to  pass 
a  sentence  of  moral  reprobation  against  the 
beast.  In  like  manner  the  man  would  not  be 
liable  to  a  sentence  of  moral  reprobation  for  a 
ferocious  disposition  given  to  him  outright  in 
all  its  strength;  neither  would  he  be  liable  to 
such  sentence  for  acts  strictly  necessitated  by 
the  disposition.  The  aesthetic  sense  would 
continue  to  pronounce  both  the  beast  and  the 
man  unpleasing,  not  to  say  horrible.  The 
moral  sense,  on  the  other  hand,  could  not  con- 
demn either  of  them.  The  claim  of  the  neces- 
sitarian overlooks  the  wide  distinction  between 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN    197 

an  aesthetic  judgment  and  a  moral  judgment 
proper. 

The  advocate  of  necessitarianism  is  quite 
apt  to  criticize  the  doctrine  of  freedom  as  doing 
violence  to  the  law  of  causality,  since  it  sup- 
poses that  the  will  can  act  without  being 
caused  to  act.  But  in  bringing  forward  this 
objection  he  ignores  the  unique  character  of 
the  personal  cause.  It  is  the  grand  distinction 
of  personality,  the  high  prerogative  which  lifts 
it  above  the  plane  of  mere  things,  that  it  has 
the  power  of  initiation.  To  deny  this  is  to 
affront  the  spontaneous  conviction  of  men,  to 
turn  responsibility  into  an  insoluble  enigma, 
and  to  leave  God  Himself  perfectly  helpless 
as  respects  the  direction  of  His  own  action. 

The  determinist  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  set- 
ting much  store  by  the  principle  of  causality. 
But  he  carries  out  the  principle  in  a  too  whole- 
sale fashion,  not  sufficiently  noting  the  wide 
distinction  between  the  domain  of  persons  and 
that  of  things.  As  James  Ward  has  re- 
marked: "That  every  event  must  have  a  cause 
we  may  allow  to  be  axiomatic,  but  not  that 
the  same  cause — the  same  efficient  cause,  that 
is — must  always  produce  the  same  effect."  14 
In  other  words,  personality  is,  as  it  has  been 

14  "The  World  of  Ends  or  Pluralism  and  Theism,"   Lecture  XIII. 


198   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

described,  a  pluripotential  cause,  not  tied  to 
one  sole  issue,  in  a  given  connection,  but  able 
within  limits  to  vary  the  result.  A  recognition 
of  this  point  of  view  is  implied  in  these  sen- 
tences from  the  pen  of  Josiah  Royce :  "What- 
ever is  unique  is  as  such  not  causally  ex- 
plicable. The  individual  as  such  is  never  the 
mere  result  of  Law."  15 

A  further  objection  of  the  determinist, 
namely,  that  action  is  characterless,  unless  it  is 
determined  by  antecedent  character,  is  urged 
with  no  better  right.  A  man  can  choose  in 
the  light  of  motives  without  being  strictly  de- 
termined by  them.  According  as  he  follows 
the  superior  or  the  inferior  motive  his  choice 
is  morally  good  or  bad.  If  he  makes  a  choice 
either  better  or  worse  in  any  degree  than  his 
antecedent  character,  his  choice,  so  far  from 
being  characterless,  is  a  character-making  ac- 
tion. It  is  just  in  this  way  that  men  improve 
or  deteriorate  in  character  and  retain  responsi- 
bility for  their  personal  development. 

The  advocate  of  freedom  has  an  advantage 
over  the  necessitarian  in  that  his  theory  is 
agreeable  to  the  appearances  of  things.  Men 
appear  to  themselves  to  be  free  in  a  great 
number  of  actions,  and  their  fellows  seem  also 

15  'The  World  and  the  Individual,"  I,  p.  407. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     199 

repeatedly  to  be  in  the  exercise  of  real  choice. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  forced  upon  their  obser- 
vation that  motives  exert  a  mighty  pressure, 
and  that  antecedent  character  is  very  likely  to 
shape  the  direction  of  the  will,  so  that  in  rela- 
tion to  much  that  occurs  there  is  a  certain  ap= 
pearance  of  determinism.  Now  the  cham- 
pion of  freedom  is  in  no  wise  precluded  from 
recognizing  both  orders  of  appearances.  He 
is  not  required  to  minify  the  pressure  of 
motives  or  to  count  for  naught  the  force  of 
antecedents.  All  that  his  theory  requires  is 
that  he  should  hold  fast  to  the  conclusion  that 
men  are  not  absolutely  shut  up  to  a  prede- 
termined course,  that  they  can  and  do  betimes 
exercise  a  real  faculty  of  alternativity.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  determinist  allows  the  occur- 
rence of  no  free  acts  whatsoever.  His  theory 
has  this  unhappy  result,  that  it  constrains  him 
to  flout  one  side  of  appearances. 

Freedom  in  the  sense  under  consideration, 
or  as  a  power  of  choosing  between  alternatives, 
is  repeatedly  implied  in  the  biblical  picture  of 
man  and  his  relations.  But  the  Bible  makes 
large  account  of  freedom  in  a  different  sense. 
It  uses  the  term  to  denote  not  merely  a  faculty 
of  alternativity,  or  power  of  varying  the  result 
in  a  given  instance,  but  also  to  describe  the 


200   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

large,  unhindered,  untrammeled  life  which  be- 
longs to  him  who  is  in  harmony  with  the  moral 
ideal,  whose  will  is  fused  into  oneness  with  the 
supreme  standard.  In  technical  phrase  this  is 
designated  real  freedom  as  distinguished  from 
formal.  Christ  gave  expression  to  it  when  He 
said:  "If  ye  abide  in  my  words,  ye  shall  know 
the  truth,  and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  16 
It  is  the  freedom  of  righteousness  as  opposed 
to  the  enslavement  of  sin,  the  freedom  of  the 
child  whom  the  master  of  the  house  is  glad  to 
honor  as  a  child,  the  freedom  which  the  Head 
of  the  universe  is  ready  and  able  to  secure  to 
the  one  who  chooses  the  line  of  His  holy  will 
and  purpose. 

VI:     Man's   Actual   Condition   as    Compared   with 
the  Ideal 

While  the  sacred  writings  of  Christianity 
greatly  honor  man  in  their  conception  of  his 
origin,  his  destination  to  an  immortal  life,  and 
his  investment  with  moral  and  religious  capaci- 
ties that  qualify  him  for  the  citizenship  of  a 
divine  kingdom  and  the  fellowship  of  a  divine 
household,  they  do  not  speak  in  flattering 
terms  of  his  actual  condition.     They  describe 

lcJohn  viii,  31,  32. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     201 

him  in  fact,  as  weak,  temptable,  born  with  a 
tendency  to  go  astray,  and  competent  to  reach 
a  worthy  destiny  only  through  struggle  and  the 
merciful  assistance  of  a  divine  hand.  In  truth, 
it  is  a  rather  somber  picture  which  the  Scrip- 
tures present  of  the  actual  moral  and  religious 
condition  of  the  race.17 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  said,  in  justice  to 
the  facts,  that  the  biblical  picture  of  man's 
condition  is  not  so  somber,  by  a  number  of 
degrees,  as  that  which  has  had  considerable 
currency  in  the  Christian  Church  since  the  time 
of  Augustine.  One  of  the  blackest  strokes  in 
the  Augustinian  representation,  namely,  that 
which  depicts  the  entire  race  as  born  under 
condemnation  because  of  Adam's  trespass, 
cannot  fairly  be  said  to  have  any  place  in  the 
biblical  teaching.  The  Old  Testament  never 
once  insinuates  the  notion  that  Adam's  sin  was 
charged  upon  his  posterity,  and  that  accord- 
ingly every  one  of  them  is  born  into  the  world 
under  the  shadow  of  the  divine  displeasure. 
It  speaks  indeed  in  some  connections  of  the 
visitation  of  the  sins  of  the  fathers  upon  the 
children,  and  it  is  possible  that  one  or  another 
of  the  ancient  writers  thought  of  this  visitation 

"Gen.  vi,  5,  11-13,  viii,  21;  1  Kings  viii,  46;  Job  lv,  17-19, 
xiv,  4,  xv,  14-16,  xxv,  5,  6;  Ps.  xiv,  1-3,  li.  5,  liii,  1-3.  CxliiL  L' ; 
Prov.  xx,  9;  Eccl.  vii,  20;  Isa.  lxiv,  C;  John  iii,  0;  Rom.  iii,  9-12, 
23,  v,  12  ;  Eph.  ii,  3. 


202   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

as  implying  not  only  the  transmission  of  af- 
flictive consequences  but  also  of  condemnation. 
If  that,  however,  was  their  understanding  in 
any  case,  it  represented  an  inferior  point  of 
view  which  the  Old  Testament  outgrew  and 
distinctly  repudiated.18 

In  the  New  Testament  there  is  no  language 
which  a  sound  exegesis  requires  us  to  construe 
as  implying  transmitted  condemnation  or  he- 
reditary guilt.  Two  or  three  references  of 
Paul,  it  is  true,  have  a  verbal  affiliation  with 
the  Augustinian  doctrine.  Still  a  complete 
survey  of  his  statements  provides  a  good  war- 
rant for  a  different  understanding  of  his  doc- 
trinal position.  It  is  found  that  the  connec- 
tion which  he  makes  between  the  sin  of  Adam 
and  his  posterity  means  only  that  the  sin  of 
the  first  parent  was  a  bad  beginning  which 
tended  to  make  all  men  sinners,  just  as  the 
righteous  obedience  of  Christ  was  a  good 
beginning  which  tended  to  make  all  men  right- 
eous. In  his  fervid  rhetorical  representation 
tendency  stands  for  the  condition  toward 
which  it  reaches.  It  is  not  necessary  to  sup- 
pose that  he  thought  of  men  as  actually  sin- 
ning in  Adam's  trespass  any  more  than  he 
thought  of  men  as  actually  dying  to  sin  in 

18  Dout.  xxiv,  16 ;  2  Kings  xiv,  6 ;  Prov.  ix,  12 ;  Jer.  xxxi,  29, 
30;   Ezek.   xviii,   xxxiii,   10-20. 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     203 

the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  That  he  was  free  to 
use  the  latter  form  of  expression  is  made  mani- 
fest by  his  recorded  words.19 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  added  that  if  the  scrip- 
tural teaching  does  not  enforce  the  idea  of 
birth  into  a  state  of  guilt,  there  is  absolutely 
nothing  that  does.  No  shadow  of  rational  jus- 
tification can  be  offered  for  the  notion  of  ante- 
natal sin  or  hereditary  guilt.  Heredity  may 
indeed  be  a  factor  of  very  appreciable  moment. 
It  can  be  supposed  to  work  in  many  cases  for 
a  disturbance  of  emotional  balance,  and  so  for 
the  impairment  of  conduct.  But  the  transmis- 
sion in  this  way  of  adverse  tendency  is  quite 
another  thing  than  the  transmission  of  guilt. 
Of  the  latter  no  rational  account  can  be  given. 
To  hold  men  responsible  for  the  fault  of 
Adam,  because  they  were  potentially  in  him  at 
the  time  of  his  trespass,  would  be  about  as 
reasonable  as  to  hold  them  responsible  for 
some  apparent  flaw  in  the  world  because  for- 
sooth they  were  potentially  in  the  Creator  at 
the  time  of  creation.  No  more  reasonable 
would  it  be  to  maintain  that  Adam  stood  as  the 
representative  of  the  race,  and  that  God  was 
pleased  to  charge  the  sin  of  the  representative 
upon  the  party  represented.     Sin  is  a  thor- 

19  Rom.  vi,  6  ;  2  Cor.  v,  14  ;  Gal.  ii,  20. 


204   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

oughly  personal  act,  and  in  relation  to  it  no 
man  can  be  represented  by  another,  so  as  to 
incur  the  guilt  of  another's  act.  As  well  sup- 
pose men  to  exchange  souls  as  to  take  the  guilt 
of  one  another. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  true  Christian 
teaching  affirms  simply  that  men  are  born  with 
tendencies  to  sin.  Universally  they  exhibit  a 
great  facility  in  going  astray,  and  also  very 
generally  more  or  less  of  a  real  bent  to  a  faulty 
course.  There  is  no  slightest  ground  for 
charging  them  with  guilt  until  they  appro- 
priate and  follow  out  the  adverse  tenden- 
cies into  personal  transgression.  As  to  the 
strength  of  the  misleading  impulses,  it  would 
be  nothing  less  than  a  veritable  hyperbole  of 
pessimistic  speech  to  describe  them  under  the 
name  of  "total  depravity."  So  extravagant  a 
slander  against  the  race  ought  never  to  have 
been  perpetrated.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a 
superficial  optimism  which  makes  small  ac- 
count of  the  evil  strain.  Elements  of  good 
enter  into  the  natural  condition  of  every  man ; 
but  abundant  facts  demonstrate  that  in  men's 
lives  there  is  a  current  which  bears  strongly  in 
the  wrong  direction,  an  unhappy  facility  of  go- 
ing wrong.  The  one  who  lives  apart  amid  ami- 
able surroundings,  confined  to  the  society  of 


NATURE  AND  CONDITION  OF  MAN     205 

agreeable  friends,  may  possibly  be  inclined  to 
think  that  it  is  a  mean  and  unwarranted  insinu- 
ation against  human  nature  to  suppose  men 
generally  to  have  any  bent  to  folly  and  sin. 
But  let  him  resolutely  grapple  with  men,  and 
attempt  to  move  individuals  or  communities 
from  unmistakable  evil  and  corruption  up  to 
the  plane  of  consistent  righteousness,  and  he 
will  quickly  come  to  realize  that  it  is  no  mild 
current  of  wayward  tendency  that  he  con- 
fronts. Who  that  touches  real  life  is  ignorant 
of  the  appalling  force  with  which  a  single  moral 
distemper  in  a  community  resists  restraint  or 
remedy?  To  break,  for  example,  the  league  of 
avarice  and  appetite  which  sustains  the  liquor 
traffic  is,  under  the  usual  conditions,  like  the 
task  of  removing  mountains.  It  is  only  by 
great  watchfulness,  stress,  and  effort  that  the 
evils  of  society  are  kept  from  passing  on  to  dire 
extremes.  The  pains,  the  wrestlings,  and 
often  even  the  shed  blood,  of  the  elect  children 
of  God  are  in  demand  for  crowding  back  the 
continually  reappearing  forces  of  animalism, 
unfeeling  greed,  and  headlong  selfishness. 
The  idea  of  man  is  noble,  and  it  is  a  lofty  des- 
tiny to  which  he  is  called;  but  his  condition  is 
not  such  that  he  is  likely  to  reach  that  destiny 
by  any  easy  holiday  march. 


CHAPTER    VI:      THE    CHRISTIAN 

TEACHING    RESPECTING    THE 

PERFECTING    OF     THE 

INDIVIDUAL 

/;     Constituents  of  the  Ideal  Set  before  the 
Individual 

The  theme  with  which  we  are  dealing  in  this 
connection  might  be  described  in  other  terms 
as  the  doctrine  of  salvation.  To  gain  the 
Christian  ideal  is  to  gain  salvation  in  the  full- 
est sense  of  the  word. 

A  thoroughly  vital  conscience  may  be  speci- 
fied as  the  first  constituent  or  factor  of  the 
Christian  ideal.  There  is  no  good  ground  to 
build  upon  in  the  man  who  lacks  a  keen  sense 
of  personal  obligation,  or  who  is  too  obtuse  in 
moral  sensibilities  to  feel  the  smart  and  degra- 
dation of  known  transgressions.  Reverence 
for  moral  order,  conviction  of  its  worth,  and 
inward  election  of  its  standard  lie  at  the  basis 
of  all  true  character.  There  is  doubtless  such 
a  thing  as  a  morbid  conscientiousness.  But 
this  does  not  mean  that  a  man  is  liable  to  have 

206 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  207 

a  larger  and  deeper  moral  sensibility  than  be 
ought  to  have.  There  is  absolutely  no  danger 
on  that  side.  The  morbid  element  comes  not 
from  an  excess  of  sensibility,  but  from  lack  of 
a  healthy  common  sense,  to  give  direction  to 
scruples  or  to  connect  them  with  an  appro- 
priate subject-matter.  It  were  good  for  a  man 
to  have  a  conscience  as  sensitive  to  the  blot  of 
personal  misconduct  as  is  the  eye  to  the  pres- 
ence of  a  foreign  substance.  To  ignore  this 
demand  for  a  lively,  energetic  conscience,  or 
to  imagine  that  there  is  any  path  around  it  to 
the  Christian  ideal,  is  to  indulge  in  a  complete 
illusion.  One  might  fitly  imitate  the  language 
of  the  apostle  Paul  and  say:  Though  I  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and 
though  I  have  visions  and  ecstasies  and  the 
most  transcendent  flights  of  soul,  and  have  not 
a  stanch  and  active  conscience  which  holds  me 
tenaciously  to  my  duty,  I  am  an  empty  pre- 
tender. 

A  second  constituent  of  the  Christian  ideal 
is  freedom  through  inner  conformity  to  the 
standard  of  duty.  This  means  not  merely  that 
there  is  a  decided  election,  through  force  of 
will,  of  the  standard  acknowledged  to  be  obli- 
gatory, but  also  that  this  choice  is  so  far  sup- 
ported by  the  sympathies  and  affections  that 


208   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

allegiance  can  be  given  thereto  cheerfully  and 
gladly.  To  a  large  degree  it  is  half-hearted- 
ness  that  makes  shackles  and  keeps  up  the 
sense  of  painful  striving.  No  doubt,  under 
ordinary  earthly  conditions  almost  any  one  is 
likely  to  find  steep  places  in  the  path  of  duty, 
obligations  which,  if  really  met,  must  be  met 
in  the  face  of  a  strong  inner  reluctance.  To 
triumph  over  this  reluctance  is,  beyond  ques- 
tion, a  sign  of  strength  and  nobility.  Still,  to 
keep  on  doing  duty  with  harassment  of 
spirit  is  not  the  ideal  way.  The  old  Hebrew 
prophets  saw  as  much  when  they  pictured  a 
golden  era  to  come,  in  which  the  house  of 
Israel  should  have  the  law  written  upon  their 
hearts.  The  like  point  of  view  is  emphatically 
set  forth  in  the  New  Testament.  The  goal 
toward  which  the  teaching  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles  directs  is  freedom  under  law,  liberty 
in  the  face  of  obligation,  because  law  and  obli- 
gation are  taken  into  the  region  of  the  heart 
life  and  transfigured  by  the  power  of  holy  af- 
fections. That  teaching  sets  duty  exceedingly 
high,  but  it  represents  its  hard  features  as  ulti- 
mately melting  away  in  the  fervid  rays  of  an 
impassioned  love. 

Once  more  the  ideal  to  which  Christianity 
calls  the  individual  includes,  as  has  been  in- 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  209 

timated  on  preceding  pages,  the  filial  relation 
and  disposition  toward  God.  That  this  is  the 
crowning  attainment  will  not  be  disputed  by 
one  who  properly  understands  its  meaning. 
Who  indeed  can  conceive  of  anything  more 
beautiful,  noble,  and  kingly  for  a  man  than  to 
possess  the  character  and  to  stand  in  the  re- 
lation of  a  child  of  God,  being  filled  with  trust 
and  love  toward  Him,  reposing  upon  His 
fatherly  goodness,  and  entering  with  free- 
hearted zeal  into  the  fulfillment  of  His  holy 
purposes?  The  life  most  mean  and  barren 
outwardly  is  made  inexpressibly  rich  by  such 
an  attainment.  And  it  is  made  all  the  richer 
because  the  high  and  precious  relation  with 
God  works  effectively  toward  a  thoroughly 
brotherly  relation  to  men  as  actual  or  possible 
children  of  God.  Those  whom  God  owns  the 
child  of  God  cannot  consistently  disown.  As 
certainly,  therefore,  as  the  true  child  of  God 
sends  out  the  heart  to  Him  in  trust  and  love, 
he  will  have  a  sympathetic  interest  in  his  fel- 
lows. He  can  make  no  disjunction  between 
the  law  of  supreme  love  to  God  and  the  law 
of  equal  love  to  the  neighbor. 

So  comprehensive  in  its  import  is  the  filial 
character  just  described  that  this  phase  of  the 
Christian  ideal  may  be  regarded  as  implicitly 


210  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

containing  all  the  rest.  Where  that  character 
has  been  established  in  rounded  perfection 
every  fruit  of  the  spirit  must  abound — love, 
joy,  peace,  long  suffering,  meekness,  and  all 
the  rest  of  the  glorious  train.  We  therefore 
choose  a  formula  as  fitting  as  it  is  brief  when 
we  say:  The  ideal  of  Christian  attainment  is 
the  realization  of  the  standing,  character  and 
conduct  of  a  true  child  of  God. 


II:     Universality  of  the  Call  to  the  Christian  Ideal 

The  natural  presupposition  is  that  the 
Christian  ideal  of  character  and  relationship 
is  set  before  all  men  as  an  object  of  possible 
attainment,  and  that  it  is  the  unfeigned  desire 
of  God  and  of  all  good  beings  that  every  son 
and  daughter  of  the  race  should  ultimately 
possess  the  incomparable  treasure.  It  is  abso- 
lutely impossible  to  think  of  any  attribute  in 
God  which  should  make  it  an  object  of  desire 
on  His  part  that  any  man  should  fail  of  an 
ideal  character.  The  hazard  of  failure  may 
be  unavoidably  involved  in  a  possible  abuse 
of  freedom;  but  that  God  on  His  side  should 
actually  prefer  to  have  any  one  make  a  wrong 
and  ruinous  use  of  his  freedom  is  inconceiv- 
able.    As  the  absolute  love  He  must  desire 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  211 

the  well-being,  the  essential  good  or  blessed- 
ness, of  those  whom  He  has  made  in  His  own 
image.  Since  He  is  the  absolutely  righteous, 
it  must  be  a  matter  of  infinite  preference  on 
His  part  that  all  free  beings  should  become 
thoroughly  established  in  righteousness.  Au- 
gustine indeed  argued  that  God  had  a  motive 
for  willing  that  men  should  be  divided  into  the 
two  classes  of  the  elect  and  the  reprobate,  in  or- 
der that  He  might  display  His  compassionate 
love  to  the  one  party,  and  show  forth  His  se- 
verity and  justice  upon  the  other.  But  this 
representation  simply  eclipses  the  ethical  na- 
ture of  God.  Love  and  justice  which  are  sub- 
ject, as  respects  their  direction,  to  fiat  are  not 
love  and  justice,  but  mere  arbitrariness  or 
caprice.  A  man  who  out  of  a  number  of 
equally  deserving  children  should  elect  one- 
half  to  be  subjects  of  unsparing  severity 
would  not  be  taken  as  a  pattern  either  of  pa- 
rental love  or  justice;  he  would  rather  be 
counted  an  example  of  appalling  eccentricity. 
In  the  natural  sphere  there  is  undoubtedly 
a  kind  of  election  to  life  or  success  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  failure  on  the  other.  Out  of  a 
totality  of  germs  in  almost  any  area  which  may 
be  observed  only  a  part  ever  attain  unto  ma- 
ture growth  and  fruitage.     Plainly,  however, 


212   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

it  will  not  do  to  cite  this  order  of  facts  as  in- 
dicative of  God's  procedure  with  beings  whom 
He  has  made  capable  of  holding  to  Himself 
the  relation  of  children.  A  far  more  suitable 
analogy  is  found  in  the  sphere  of  man's  family 
life.  As  the  earthly  father  is  required  by  his 
relation  not  to  treat  any  of  his  children  with 
indifference,  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the 
Father  in  heaven  does  not  look  upon  any  hu- 
man beings  who  are  born  into  His  world  as 
objects  simply  of  indifference  or  despite. 

Coinciding  with  the  rational  presupposition 
is  the  whole  sum  of  evidence  in  the  Bible  for 
the  universal  fatherhood  of  God.  That  evi- 
dence has  already  been  reviewed  and  found  to 
be  large  and  unequivocal.  It  was  noticed  that 
the  same  Christ  who  claimed  identity  of  dis- 
position with  the  Father  showed  an  earnest  de- 
sire to  win  every  man,  and  distinctly  taught 
that  the  one  remotest  from  God  in  character 
and  life,  who  might  still  be  gained,  was  to  Him 
an  object  of  genuine  solicitude.  Indeed,  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  the  very  tone  and 
pith  of  the  gospel  carry  the  conclusion  that  the 
Christian  ideal  was  meant  for  every  man,  and 
that  all  heaven  with  perfectly  sincere  and  un- 
divided voice  calls  thereto. 

The  passages  in  the  New  Testament  which 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   213 

can  be  cited  against  the  common  Christian 
vocation  and  opportunities  of  men  can  be  ex- 
plained as  strong  expressions  of  God's  sover- 
eignty, of  man's  fundamental  dependence  up- 
on Him,  and  of  the  impossibility  of  binding 
His  will  by  any  self-chosen  scheme  on  the  part 
of  men.  They  picture  so  graphically  God's 
part  in  the  issues  of  men's  lives  that  for  the 
time  being  the  modifying  agency  of  the  human 
factor  is  left  unnoticed.  But  it  is  not  meant 
to  be  denied.  The  total  representation  of  any 
sacred  writer,  who  has  expressed  himself  with 
moderate  fullness,  indicates  this  very  clearly. 
Take,  for  example,  the  case  of  Paul  in  that 
most  stalwart  passage  of  his,  the  ninth  chapter 
of  Romans.  Pie  speaks  here  as  though  men 
were  to  God  no  more  than  the  clay  to  the  pot- 
ter, as  though  it  lay  entirely  within  His  dis- 
cretion whether  they  should  be  fashioned  unto 
honor  or  dishonor.  But  notice,  in  the  first 
place,  the  character  and  claims  of  the  men 
whom  Paul  had  in  mind.  They  were  Jews 
who  assumed  in  virtue  of  ancestral  privileges 
to  have  a  special  lien  on  God's  favor,  men  who 
scorned  the  idea  that  the  Gentiles  should  be 
placed  on  an  equality  with  themselves.  The 
apostle  thought  it  necessary  to  cast  down  into 
the  dust  this  high  pretension.     He  therefore 


214    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

paints  in  the  strongest  colors  God's  sover- 
eignty and  the  utter  futility  and  foolishness  of 
attempting  to  bind  Him  by  such  grounds  of 
distinction  and  precedence  as  men  may  choose 
to  recognize.  Notice,  in  the  second  place,  that 
Paul  before  the  end  of  his  argument,  as  ap- 
pears in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  of 
the  epistle,  corrects  any  impression  of  divine 
arbitrariness  which  might  be  drawn  from  his 
oratorical  outburst.  He  speaks  of  that  por- 
tion of  Israel  which  he  described  as  repro- 
bate, broken  off  from  the  true  stock,  as  capa- 
ble of  being  grafted  in  again.  Indeed  he 
hopes  that  the  temporary  hardening  and  re- 
jection of  Israel  will  result  in  an  extraordinary 
extension  of  salvation  among  both  Jews  and 
Gentiles.  "A  hardening  in  part  hath  befallen 
Israel,"  he  says,  "until  the  fulness  of  the  Gen- 
tiles be  come  in,  and  so  all  Israel  shall  be 
saved."  *  Thus  the  ultimate  picture  sketched 
by  the  apostle  is  not  that  of  a  divine  sover- 
eignty which  arbitrarily  casts  men  away,  but 
rather  of  a  divine  sovereignty  which  rules  and 
overrules  events,  to  the  end  that  the  greatest 
possible  number  may  be  made  partakers  of 
everlasting  life.  In  an  earlier  passage  of  the 
same  epistle,2  wherein  he  speaks  of  the  obedi- 

1  Rom.  xi,  25,  2G. 

2  Horn,  v,   18. 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  215 

ence  of  Christ  as  offsetting  the  disobedience  of 
Adam  and  bringing  the  gifts  of  grace  to  all 
men,  he  attributes  the  same  universality  to 
God's  benevolent  purpose.  The  tenor  of  his 
conviction  is  also  indicated  in  those  passages 
of  his  epistles  which  refer  to  Christ  as  dying 
for  all,  and  describe  the  gospel  ministry  as  de- 
signed by  God  to  reconcile  the  world  unto 
Himself.3 

In  relation  to  John's  writings  it  will  be 
found  in  like  manner  that  any  appearance  of 
limitation  put  upon  God's  benevolent  designs 
for  men  is  corrected  or  offset  in  the  total  rep- 
resentation. The  prize  of  salvation  is  declared 
to  be  for  every  man  who  will  repent  and  be- 
lieve on  the  Saviour.  "Whosoever  believeth 
on  Him  shall  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life.  For  God  sent  not  the  Son  into  the  world 
to  judge  the  world;  but  that  the  world  should 
be  saved  through  Him."  4  "And  the  spirit 
and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that 
heareth  say,  Come.  And  he  that  is  athirst,  let 
him  come ;  he  that  will  let  him  take  of  the  water 
of  life  freely."  5 

s  2  Cor.  v,  15,  19  ;  1  Tim.  ii,  4-6  ;  Titus,  ii,  11. 

♦John  iii.  16,  17. 

5  Rev.  xxii.  17.  Criticism  is  not  unanimous  for  the  Judgment 
that  the  book  containing  this  passage  came  from  the  author  of 
the  fourth  Gospel;  but  the  cited  passage  in  no  wise  misrepresents 
his  standpoint. 


216  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

777;     Conditions  which  the  Individual  Must  Fulfil 
m  Starting  toward  the  Ideal 

The  prominence  of  the  filial  relation  and 
character  in  the  Christian  ideal  indicates  clearly 
what  must  be  the  primary  condition  of  its 
realization.  For,  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
nothing  can  be  more  indispensable  to  the  re- 
lation and  character  of  a  true  child  than  faith. 
There  is  then  no  legitimate  cause  for  surprise 
in  the  fact  that  the  Bible  makes  so  much  of 
faith.  It  would  need  to  make  less  of  the  voca- 
tion of  men  as  children  of  God,  if  it  were  to 
make  less  of  faith.  Take  a  living  faith  out 
of  the  filial  character,  and  the  character  left 
will  be  anything  but  filial. 

The  teachings  of  Christ  do  not  lack  sen- 
tences which  directly  emphasize  the  virtue  and 
indispensableness  of  faith.  It  is  pictured  as 
the  medium  of  salvation,  as  the  power  which 
is  able  to  remove  mountains,  and  to  which 
nothing  is  impossible.6  Still  we  gain  but  an 
imperfect  view  of  the  stress  upon  faith  in 
Christ's  teaching  if  we  confine  ourselves  to  in- 
stances of  explicit  mention.  The  indirect  in- 
culcation of  faith  is  quite  as  cogent  as  the 
direct.    We  may  observe  it  in  the  whole  strain 

aJohn  vi,  29;  Luke  vii,  50;  Matt,  xvii,  20. 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   217 

of  reference  to  God  as  the  Father  in  heaven 
whose  minute  and  tender  oversight  banishes 
occasion  for  anxious  care;  in  the  parable  which 
puts  the  humility  and  deep  sense  of  depend- 
ence upon  the  divine  clemency  exhibited  by 
the  publican  in  contrast  with  the  self-satisfac- 
tion of  the  Pharisee;  in  the  declaration  that 
entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  requires 
the  childlike  disposition ;  and  in  the  representa- 
tion that  the  genuine  and  fruit-bearing  disciple 
is  the  one  who  abides  in  the  Christ  as  the 
branch  in  the  vine. 

An  equal  prominence  is  given  to  faith  in  the 
apostolic  teaching  which  finds  expression  in 
the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testament.  Salva- 
tion by  faith,  as  opposed  to  salvation  by  legal 
performances,  may  be  described  as  the  leading 
theme  of  Paul's  discourse.  The  following  are 
are  but  specimen  sentences:  "We  reckon  that 
a  man  is  justified  by  faith  apart  from  the 
works  of  the  law."  7  "The  law  hath  been  our 
tutor  to  bring  us  unto  Christ,  that  we  might 
be  justified  by  faith.  But  now  that  faith  is 
come,  we  are  no  longer  under  a  tutor.  For 
ye  are  all  sons  of  God  through  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus."  8  Taken  out  of  the  field  of  the  existing 


7  Rom.   iii,   28. 
"Gal.    iii,   24-26. 


218  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

controversy,  and  translated  into  more  general 
terms,  Paul's  contention  amounts  to  the  truth, 
that  the  inner  disposition  is  the  fundamental 
condition  of  salvation,  for  which  no  amount  of 
external  performances  is  any  substitute,  and 
that  the  proper  inner  disposition  is  that  spirit 
of  sonship  which  naturally  comes  from  a  true 
acceptance  of  the  message  of  God  in  Christ. 

By  what  has  already  been  said  it  has  been 
intimated  that  faith,  in  the  proper  religious 
sense,  means  much  more  than  mere  belief  or 
intellectual  assent.  It  denotes  a  positive 
practical  relation  to  an  ob j  ect  with  which  more 
or  less  of  an  ideal  character  is  associated,  an 
attitude  of  genuine  self -committal  to  that  ob- 
ject. Now  the  highest  object,  the  supreme 
ideal,  as  known  to  the  Bible  and  to  good  phi- 
losophy, is  a  Divine  Person.  From  their  point 
of  view,  then,  faith  must  mean  an  act  or  an 
attitude  of  self-committal  to  a  Divine  Person. 
In  its  specifically  Christian  signification  it 
may  be  defined  as  the  act  or  attitude  of  self- 
committal  to  God  as  revealed  in  Christ.  We 
say  "act"  or  "attitude,"  since  faith  may  be 
viewed  either  as  an  act  or  as  a  standing  habit 
or  disposition  which  the  act  initiates.  The 
principal  stress,  of  course,  falls  upon  the  latter. 
The  supreme  and  immediate  object  of  faith  is 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   219 

a  person  and  not  a  message.  Some  sort  of  a 
message  may  be  necessary  for  outlining  to  the 
mind  the  person  who  is  the  object  of  faith. 
Still  the  real  object  of  heart-reliance  is  the  per- 
son, and  the  message  first  becomes  a  matter  for 
affectionate  appropriation  when  it  is  viewed, 
not  as  the  message  of  a  distant  and  unrelated 
person,  but  of  one  with  whom  in  our  inmost 
being  we  are  linked.  Any  intelligent  person 
may  render  a  sort  of  intellectual  appreciation 
to  the  divine  message  in  the  Scriptures  and 
perhaps  also  give  to  it  some  degree  of  heart 
response.  But  still  it  is  true  that  only  the  one 
who  comes  to  the  Father  in  heaven,  and  makes 
the  filial  self-committal  to  Him,  gains  the 
proper  standpoint  for  an  adequate  apprecia- 
tion of  the  message.  The  bond  with  the  Per- 
son involves  at  once  a  bond  of  sympathetic 
connection  with  all  that  which  is  regarded  as 
reflecting  the  mind  of  the  Person. 

As  a  principle  of  action,  or  practical  reali- 
zation, faith  stands  in  a  harmonious  relation 
to  reason.  The  one  attains  what  the  other 
approves.  Reason  certainly  dictates  a  trust- 
ful self -committal  to  the  Being  in  whom  are 
limitless  power  and  benevolence ;  faith  consum- 
mates this  self-committal.  Reason  also  dic- 
tates the  acceptance  of  whatever  fairly  ap- 


220  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

proves  itself  as  reflecting  the  mind  of  this  Di- 
vine Person ;  faith  cordially  accepts  that  much, 
and  counts  itself  as  holden  to  nothing  more. 
It  never  imposes  a  demand  for  blind  or  irra- 
tional assent. 

In  the  point  of  view  of  Christianity  the  di- 
recting of  faith  toward  Christ  is  important. 
He  stands  as  the  authentic  messenger  of  God, 
central  to  the  manifestation  of  God  which  has 
intrinsically  the  highest  spiritual  potency.  For 
faith  to  go  out  to  Him  means,  therefore,  for 
it  to  take  the  path  of  the  highest  saving  effi- 
cacy. It  is  beyond  question  the  normal  course 
for  it  to  take.  But  from  this  fact  we  are  not 
allowed  to  infer  that  specific  faith  in  Christ  as 
set  forth  in  the  New  Testament  is  an  impera- 
tive condition  of  salvation.  Christ  came  to 
facilitate  salvation,  not  to  raise  against  it  a 
technical  barrier.  The  man  to  whom  he  has 
not  been  disclosed  is  not  shut  out  from  Him  by 
lack  of  formal  Christian  faith,  provided  there 
is  a  distinct  leaning  in  his  spirit  toward  the 
ideal  for  which  Christ  stands.  Such  a  man 
may  be  expected  when  Christ  is  truly  revealed 
to  him  as  the  Head  of  redeemed  humanity 
gladly  to  recognize  Him  as  his  Lord. 

The  description  which  has  been  given  of 
faith  prepares  for  a  proper  rating  of  what  may 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   221 

be  called  the  secondary  conditions  of  entrance 
into  the  way  of  salvation,  the  way  that  leads  to 
the  Christian  ideal.  These  are  repentance  and 
evangelical  obedience,  the  latter  of  which  de- 
notes obedience  to  the  ethical  and  religious 
code  of  the  gospel.  Repentance  may  be  de- 
fined as  sorrow  for  misdoing  together  with  a 
positive  purpose  of  amendment.  In  this  sig- 
nificance it  is  plainly  secondary  to  faith.  No 
one  turns  away  from  a  soiled  and  imperfect 
past  except  in  favor  of  something  better,  ex- 
cept under  the  solicitation  of  a  higher  ideal. 
Some  measure  of  inward  assent  to  that  ideal  is 
logically  antecedent  to  the  act  of  turning  away 
from  the  opposite.  Faith,  therefore,  as  self- 
committal,  to  a  superior  object  of  trust  and 
obligation  lays  the  basis  for  repentance.  The 
former  term  expresses  the  positive  element  in 
a  transaction  or  state  of  which  the  latter  names 
the  negative  element.  In  the  one  you  have 
the  idea  of  association  with  a  Divine  Person,  in 
the  other  the  idea  of  that  recession  from  evil 
which  is  the  necessary  counterpart  of  a  holy 
association. 

It  is  easy  to  see  also  that  in  relation  to 
evangelical  obedience  faith  is  the  primary  or 
root  principle.  As  trustful  self-committal  to 
a  Divine  Person  it  is  itself  a  kind  of  compre- 


222  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

hensive  inward  obedience.  It  is  the  vital  dis- 
position of  obedience  lying  back  of  specific 
acts  of  obedience.  Without  the  vital  disposi- 
tion there  would  be  no  true  obedience,  but 
only  perfunctory  or  mercenary  performances. 
Nevertheless,  it  will  not  do  to  attach  a  slight 
significance  to  specific  acts  of  obedience.  If, 
on  the  one  hand,  it  is  true  that  the  inner  dispo- 
sition denoted  by  the  word  "faith"  must  be  at 
the  heart  of  specific  acts  in  order  that  they  may 
have  genuine  religious  worth,  it  is  true,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  inner  disposition,  for  its 
own  maintenance  and  development,  needs  to 
go  out  in  specific  acts.  Just  as  it  tends  to  las- 
situde in  a  man's  will  power,  if  he  does  not  go 
out  upon  the  field  of  this  world's  affairs  and 
grapple  with  actual  conditions,  so  faith  di- 
vorced from  appropriate  lines  of  activity  lacks 
a  requisite  of  healthy  growth  and  indeed  of 
subsistence.  Faith  is  all-sufficient  in  the  sense 
that  it  puts  one  at  once  in  a  normal  or  filial  re- 
lation with  God.  But  it  would  deny  itself  if 
it  did  not  inspire  to  good  works  with  the  com- 
ing of  opportunities  for  their  performance. 

IV:     The  Divine  Response  and  Cooperation 

Divine   agency   goes   before,    accompanies, 
and  follows  the  acts  of  the  individual  whereby 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   223 

he  turns  toward  the  Christian  ideal,  or  enters 
the  way  of  salvation.  It  goes  before  those 
acts  as  graciously  prompting  to  them.  It  ac- 
companies them  as  a  means  of  continuous  in- 
centive and  support.  It  follows  them  in  the 
bestowment  of  the  great  benefits  appropriate 
to  the  new  life  chosen  by  the  believing,  peni- 
tent, and  obedient  person.  We  express  the 
essential  character  of  these  benefits  when  we 
affirm  that  for  such  a  one  God  improves  His 
opportunity  to  give  practical  realization  to  the 
filial  relation.  If  we  wish  to  use  language 
more  distinctly  theological,  we  designate  the 
benefits  by  the  terms  justification,  regenera- 
tion, and  assurance. 

Viewed  as  to  its  composition  the  word  "jus- 
tification" may  be  understood  to  mean  making 
just  or  righteous.  But  in  common  usage  it  is 
employed  in  the  sense  of  "pronouncing  just." 
The  scriptures  undoubtedly  employ  it  in  not 
a  few  instances  in  the  latter  sense,  and  it  sub- 
serves the  end  of  distinguishing  it  from  regen- 
eration to  confine  it  to  that  meaning.  Taken 
thus  it  denotes  the  favorable  judgment,  the 
attitude  of  gracious  welcome  which  God  ex- 
tends to  the  one  who  through  faith  comes  to 
possess  the  germ  of  the  filial  character.  Such 
a  person  may  be  far  from  being  actually  per- 


224   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

feet.  But  God  sees  that  in  earnest  intention 
he  has  parted  from  the  evil  of  the  past,  that 
his  faith  is  a  potentiality  of  righteousness 
which  connects  him  with  the  ideal,  and  that  he 
only  needs  to  go  on  in  the  path  which  he  has 
entered  in  order  to  attain  ultimately  to  the 
unblemished  standard.  He  therefore  takes 
pleasure  in  him,  counts  the  evil  of  his  past  a 
bygone,  and  sincerely  receives  and  approves 
him.  This  is  justification,  the  pardon  or  for- 
giveness bestowed  by  God.  It  is  gracious  and 
benevolent,  but  in  no  wise  artificial.  It  de- 
clares no  man  other  than  he  is.  It  is  simply 
the  favorable  response  of  the  heavenly  Father 
to  the  one  who  through  faith  is  preparing  to 
act  the  part  of  a  dutiful  child  of  His. 

Justification,  as  the  forgiving  and  approv- 
ing sentence  of  God,  may  be  said  to  be  done 
for  a  man.  Regeneration  denotes  the  effect, 
which,  at  the  time  of  justification,  is  wrought 
in  a  man.  In  considering  the  nature  of  this 
spiritual  birth  or  renewal  we  need  to  combine 
two  different  views.  The  one  is  a  stanch  con- 
ception of  the  divine  immanence.  All  earnest 
theism  teaches  this.  It  requires  us  to  think 
of  our  lives  as  insphered  in  God,  to  recognize 
a  fundamental  dependence  upon  Him  both  in 
respect  of  the  physical  and  the  spiritual.    The 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   225 

other  conception  is  that  God  respects  the  con- 
stitution of  human  souls,  and  will  never  deal 
with  them  as  mere  things.  Putting  these  two 
conceptions  together  we  reach  the  idea  of  a 
spiritual  energy,  subtle  and  powerful,  but 
gentle  in  its  method,  assisting  a  man  to  go  in 
the  direction  of  his  own  better  choice,  intensi- 
fying his  resolution  against  evil,  strengthening 
his  love  for  the  good,  clarifying  his  vision  of 
the  things  of  supreme  worth,  consoling  and 
stimulating  him  with  a  sense  of  high  and  holy 
relationships.  This  is  the  power  of  regenera- 
tion. It  does  not  force  or  drive.  It  does  not 
put  any  new  faculty  into  a  man.  As  a  gentle 
yet  mighty  agent,  it  comes  to  the  assistance  of 
a  man  in  his  turning  toward  the  ideal,  and 
helps  him  to  attain  the  habitual  purpose  and 
feeling  which  befit  him  as  the  citizen  of  a  spir- 
itual kingdom  and  the  child  of  a  spiritual 
household.  Regeneration  may  be  supernatural, 
but  we  have  no  more  reason  to  consider  it  un- 
natural than  we  have  so  to  consider  the  divine 
immanence.  If  God  is  really  near  to  human 
spirits  and  able  to  touch  them,  why  should  not 
the  virtue  of  His  presence  be  specially  opera- 
tive in  one  who  opens  to  Him  the  avenues  of 
his  spiritual  nature  by  an  act  of  trustful  self- 
surrender?    It  is  impossible  to  think  otherwise 


226   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

without  abandoning  the  central  Christian  con- 
ception of  God  and  of  His  relation  to  men. 

There  is  a  liability  of  setting  the  truth  of 
regeneration  in  a  false  light  by  making  the 
term  to  stand  for  a  marked  crisis  in  conscious- 
ness. The  crisis  does  occur  not  infrequently. 
But  it  is  the  accident,  not  the  essential.  A 
man  who  blocks  up  the  avenues  of  divine  ap- 
proach to  himself,  and  stubbornly  resists  the 
work  of  grace,  not  unnaturally  experiences, 
when  he  does  give  way,  a  very  decided  emo- 
tional crisis,  especially  if  he  be  a  man  of  highly 
emotional  bent.  But  his  experience  is  no 
standard  for  judging  that  of  others.  Daylight 
is  no  less  daylight  because  it  may  arrive  by 
imperceptible  advances.  So  the  state  of  filial 
trust  in  God  and  of  decided  cheerful  purpose 
to  please  Him  is  the  regenerate  state,  under 
whatever  conditions  it  may  have  been  reached. 

A  very  close  association  with  regeneration 
may  properly  be  given  to  assurance,  by  which 
is  meant  a  more  or  less  luminous  conviction  of 
an  individual  that  he  stands  before  God  as  an 
accepted  child.  Beyond  all  fair  question  such 
a  conviction  is  an  appropriate  factor  in  a 
Christian  consciousness.  If  it  be  actually  the 
supreme  vocation  of  a  man  to  be  a  child  of 
God,  then  in  all  consistency  he  ought  to  come 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   <W 

to  feel  as  a  child  of  God.  It  would  be  decid- 
edly out  of  harmony  with  his  filial  relation 
to  doubt  the  friendly  attitude  of  God  toward 
himself.  By  no  possibility  could  a  doubt  of 
that  sort  be  agreeable  to  God  or  conformable 
to  His  plan.  If  God  thinks  it  worth  while 
to  work  toward  the  filial  character  in  a  given 
individual,  then  He  must  think  it  worth  while 
to  work  toward  the  filial  consciousness  in  him, 
or  the  inward  conviction  that  he  has  the  stand- 
ing of  an  accepted  child. 

This  rational  induction  has  the  clear  sup- 
port of  the  Scriptures.  "Because  ye  are  sons," 
says  Paul,  "God  sent  forth  the  spirit  of  His 
Son  into  our  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father."  9 
"On  whom,"  says  Peter,  "though  now  ye  see 
Him  not,  yet  believing,  ye  rejoice  greatly  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,  receiving 
the  end  of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of 
your  souls."  10  Equally  suggestive  of  a  posi- 
tive realization  of  divine  relationships  are  the 
words  of  Christ  spoken  in  connection  with  His 
promise  of  the  Comforter:  "He  that  loveth 
me  shall  be  loved  of  My  Father,  and  I  will 
love  him,  and  will  manifest  Myself  unto  him. 
...  If  a  man  love  Me  he  will  keep  My 
words;  and  My  Father  will  love  him,  and  we 

9  Gal.  iv,  6. 

10 1  Pet.  i,  8,  9. 


228  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our  abode  with 
him."  1X 

The  method  in  which  the  Divine  Spirit 
works  assurance  in  the  heart  of  the  believer 
lies  beyond  the  range  of  discovery.  Possibly 
at  some  crisis  in  experience  the  Spirit  works 
directly  to  awaken  the  specific  conviction  of 
acceptance  with  God.  But  ordinarily  a  work- 
ing in  this  form  would  not  seem  to  be  neces- 
sary. Living  filial  affections  by  their  own  vir- 
tue naturally  evoke  a  spontaneous  inference 
as  to  the  relation  of  acceptance  with  God. 
The  filial  heart,  in  the  outflow  of  its  trust  and 
love,  can  hardly  be  restrained  from  calling 
to  God  as  Father.  The  great  demand,  there- 
fore, for  the  enjoyment  of  assurance,  as  a 
standing  fact  in  the  experience  of  the  believer, 
appears  to  be  simply  the  possession,  through 
the  efficacious  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  of 
living  filial  affections.  One  who  has  these  af- 
fections need  not  wait  for  any  mystic  voice  to 
assure  him  of  his  standing.  In  the  earnest 
and  trustful  cry  of  his  heart  to  the  heavenly 
Father  he  already  has  the  essential  part  of 
assurance. 

"John  xiv,  21,  23. 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   229 

V:     Aids  to  Continued  Progress  toward  the 
Christian  Ideal 

In  considering  things  necessary  or  help- 
ful to  continued  progress  toward  the  Christian 
ideal — or  to  use  a  more  technical  term,  things 
contributory  to  progressive  sanctification — we 
need  to  recur  to  the  conditions  of  beginning  a 
Christian  life.  As  has  been  seen,  these  are 
faith  in  the  sense  of  a  trustful  self-committal 
to  a  Divine  Person,  repentance  regarded  as  a 
turning  away  in  the  standing  purpose  from 
all  recognized  evil  and  imperfection  in  one's 
life,  and  evangelical  obedience,  or  a  readiness, 
as  occasion  arises,  to  carry  out  the  principle 
of  faith  into  a  detailed  fulfillment  of  the  ethical 
and  religious  code  of  the  gospel.  These  are 
not  merely  the  conditions  of  starting  toward 
the  ideal;  they  are  the  foremost  conditions  of 
continuous  progress  up  to  the  ideal  itself,  up 
to  the  goal  of  complete  sanctification.  One  ad- 
vances at  the  best  rate  by  just  cultivating  the 
spirit  in  which  he  made  a  start.  He  does  not 
need  to  trouble  himself  with  any  fine  and 
subtle  scheme  for  getting  hold  of  the  forces 
of  the  spiritual  world.  He  has  simply  to  go 
forward  in  the  spirit  of  faith,  penitence  and 
obedience.     These  are  the  constant  requisites. 


230  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

It  is  worth  while,  however,  to  take  note  of  two 
or  three  things  either  implicitly  contained  in 
them  or  accessory  to  their  office. 

We  remark  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  is 
helpful  to  progress  to  keep  up  a  vital  sense 
of  spiritual  dependence.  Personal  effort  is 
likely  to  be  a  hard  striving  when  divorced  from 
a  sense  of  intimate  connection  with  a  gracious 
and  all-powerful  personality.  It  tends  greatly 
to  illuminate  moral  struggle  if  one  can  share 
in  the  sentiment  which  brought  to  the  lips  of 
the  apostle  the  question,  "If  God  be  for  us, 
who  can  be  against  us?"  Struggle  may  be 
heroic  in  one  who  is  self -centered ;  that  it  may 
be  in  the  best  sense  cheerful  and  victorious, 
there  needs  to  be  the  consciousness  of  union 
with  a  Divine  Helper. 

A  double  aspect  of  truth  needs  here  to  be 
carefully  respected.  Strenuousness  is  most 
certainty  to  be  cultivated.  Religion  must  go 
out  into  energetic  practical  activity.  As 
George  Tyrrell  tells  us:  "No  will  can  be  united 
to  God's  and  built  into  the  communion  of 
saints  that  is  not  firmly  set  upon  the  overthrow 
of  evil  and  the  triumph  of  good  through  the 
length  and  the  breadth  of  the  earth."  The 
strenuous  will,  however,  needs  to  enter  into 
copartnership  with  the  Divine  Ally  in  order 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  231 

to  reach  the  proper  achievement,  and  this  co- 
partnership is  conditioned  on  a  habit  of  full 
trustful  self -delivery  to  that  Ally.  As  an  old 
Egyptian  proverb  puts  the  two  sides  of  the 
demand:  "The  archer  hitteth  the  target  partly 
by  pulling,  partly  by  letting  go;  the  boatman 
reacheth  the  landing  partly  by  pulling,  partly 
by  letting  go." 

In  the  second  place,  it  ministers  to  progress 
to  take  the  mediation  of  Christ  at  its  true  prac- 
tical value.  An  ambitious  spirit  may  indeed 
think  of  making  a  direct  flight  to  God,  giving 
little  or  no  heed  to  the  instrumentality  which 
is  commended  in  the  gospel.  But  the  result 
is  not  likely,  in  the  long  run,  to  be  of  the  best 
order.  There  is  a  danger  in  this  procedure 
that  the  thought  of  God  will  lose  much  of  its 
vitality  through  vagueness  and  generality. 
One  will  proceed  more  securely  by  looking 
very  frequently  to  Christ,  since  He  is  the  per- 
fect guide  to  a  sense  of  fellowship  with  the 
Father.  The  spirit  of  sonship  dwelt  in  Him 
in  ideal  measure.  To  be  in  His  company, 
therefore,  is  to  be  in  contact  with  the  spirit  of 
sonship,  to  have  vividly  before  the  mind  an 
authentic  picture  of  the  heavenly  Father,  and 
by  natural  consequence  to  gain  the  most  home- 
like feeling  in  His  presence  that  could  by  any 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

means  be  realized.  There  is  also — to  state  a 
truth  that  will  bear  repetition — in  companion- 
ship with  Christ  the  great  advantage  that  it 
never  isolates  one  from  his  fellows.  He  never 
conducts  to  an  absorption  in  God  to  the  injury 
of  a  sympathetic  connection  with  men.  If  He 
called  Himself  the  Son  of  God,  He  called 
Himself  also  the  Son  of  Man,  and  He  showed 
by  the  most  indubitable  proofs  that  He  was 
with  men  and  for  men.  Thus  while  He  leads 
near  to  God,  He  at  the  same  time  leads  near 
to  men,  and  enforces  the  brotherly  relation- 
ship. Indeed  it  is  one  of  the  chief  glories  of 
Christianity  that  in  the  person  of  its  Founder 
there  is  provided  at  once  a  bond  of  intimate 
fellowship  with  God  and  of  sympathetic  re- 
lation with  men. 

Again  it  ministers  to  progress  toward  the 
Christian  ideal  rightly  to  combine  a  habit  of 
contemplation  with  practical  activity.  For 
both  the  one  and  the  other  the  means  at  hand 
are  not  scanty.  The  themes  of  sacred  thought 
supply  abundant  materials  for  a  heavenly 
vision.  It  is  only  necessary  that  thought  and 
imagination  should  take  hold  of  them  in  order 
to  make  them  a  source  of  continual  edification 
and  inspiration.  But  contemplation  divorced 
from    practical     activity    makes     the     mere 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   233 

dreamer.  Its  proper  function  is  to  give  solace 
and  incentive  to  the  worker,  to  inspirit  him  by- 
placing  a  glorious  sky  over  his  head  or  by  sur- 
rounding him  with  a  beautiful  scene.  Says  the 
eloquent  author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews : 
"Seeing  we  are  compassed  about  with  so  great 
a  cloud  of  witnesses  let  us  run  with  patience 
the  race  set  before  us."  Contemplation  util- 
ized to  enforce  patient  endeavor  is  the  thought 
of  the  exhortation. 

Again  a  habit  of  utilizing  very  brief  casual 
opportunities  in  one  or  another  form  of  reli- 
gious exercise  can  be  made  very  serviceable 
in  vitalizing  the  religious  disposition.  It  com- 
mends itself  as  a  perfectly  unburdensome  sup- 
plement to  the  stated  seasons  of  worship  and 
meditation.  Much  refreshment  and  incentive, 
for  example,  may  be  derived  from  the  employ- 
ment of  chance  moments  through  the  day  in 
intercessory  prayer,  petitions  for  specific  indi- 
viduals in  whose  welfare  we  are  or  ought  to  be 
interested.  A  habit  of  this  kind  cannot  fail  to 
work  for  heart  enlargement.  Objectively,  too, 
it  may  be  regarded,  with  perfect  sobriety,  as 
entitled  to  effect  genuine  results.  By  praying 
for  others  we  put  ourselves  in  a  favorable  posi- 
tion to  receive  suggestions  of  such  ministries 
to  them  as  may  be  best  adapted  to  their  needs. 


234   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Moreover  it  is  safe  to  hold  the  general  principle 
that  whatever  improves  ourselves  touches  the 
world  for  good  at  some  point. 

Once  more,  in  the  employment  of  means  of 
religious  improvement,  we  pay  due  regard  to 
a  psychological  law,  when  we  give  as  little  at- 
tention as  possible  to  the  aim  at  self -improve- 
ment, and  as  much  as  possible  to  the  intrinsic 
excellence  of  the  realities  of  religious  contem- 
plation, and  to  the  worth  of  the  definite  objec- 
tive ends  which  may  be  reached.  Of  course  it 
is  not  possible,  neither  is  it  desirable,  to  ignore 
the  former  entirely.  Some  attention  to  our 
estate  is  necessary  to  direct  the  effort  at  its  im- 
provement. It  is  to  be  remembered,  however, 
that  religion  is  not  best  acquired  by  attempting 
to  practice  religion  upon  ourselves.  To  think 
about  the  heavenly  Father,  or  about  Christ, 
just  to  do  ourselves  good,  is  not  the  way  to  get 
the  most  good  from  such  thinking.  To  do 
works  of  kindness  for  the  sake  of  their  reflex 
influence  upon  ourselves  is  not  the  most  effec- 
tive way  to  make  dominant  the  kindly  impulse 
in  us.  The  vision  of  divine  beauty,  the  excel- 
lence of  fellowship  and  cooperatoin  with  God, 
should  so  commend  themselves  to  our  minds 
and  hearts,  that  spontaneously  we  turn  to  them 
and  seek  them  for  their  own  sake.     In  like 


PERFECTING  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL   235 

manner  the  great  needs  of  our  fellows  and  the 
worthful  fruits  to  them  and  to  the  world  which 
are  certain  to  come  from  our  hearty  response 
to  the  demands  of  their  lives,  should  he  the 
subjects  of  absorbing  interest.  The  child  does 
not  do  his  best  to  gain  a  filial  attitude  toward 
the  mother  by  simply  writing  it  down  as  a  duty 
to  be  attended  to,  a  piece  of  self-improvement 
which  is  to  be  wrought  out.  Rather  by  think- 
ing on  the  charm  of  the  mother's  love  and  care 
and  on  the  insolvable  debt  of  gratitude  which 
he  owes,  is  the  fountain  of  finer  feeling  made 
to  spring  up  within  him.  So  in  like  manner 
let  the  Christian  proceed  in  his  striving  for  re- 
ligious betterment.  Let  him  keep  in  the  fore- 
ground the  great  objective  values. 


CHAPTER    VII:      THE    SOCIAL 
IDEAL    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

2":     The  New  Testament  Terms  Descriptive  of  the 
Social  Ideal — The  Kingdom  and  the  Church 

Even  a  casual  reading  of  the  Gospels  must 
reveal  the  fact  that  a  great  social  ideal  is  set 
forth  in  their  teachings.  Repeated  mention  is 
made  of  the  "Kingdom  of  God."  Many  times 
the  equivalent  phrase,  "Kingdom  of  heaven," 
is  employed.  Matthew  uses  the  latter  term 
almost  uniformly.  The  conception  contained 
under  these  terms 'appears  in  the  words  "Thy 
kingdom,"  which  occur  in  the  petition  which 
the  disciples  were  taught  to  address  to  the 
heavenly  Father.  Occasionally  Christ  de- 
scribed the  kingdom  from  the  standpoint  of  re- 
lation to  Himself,  speaking  of  it  as  "my  king- 
dom." Three  times  only  does  the  word 
"Church"  occur  in  the  Gospels,  whereas  the 
kingdom  is  mentioned  one  hundred  and  twelve 
times.  In  the  Epistles,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
ratio  of  use  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  the  former 
term,  that  being  used  one  hundred  and  twelve 

236 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  237 

times,  while  kingdom  appears  but  twenty-nine 
times. 

In  some  instances,  it  may  be  granted,  the 
term  kingdom  is  used  in  a  way  which  is  not 
directly  suggestive  of  a  social  ideal.  It  is 
spoken  of  as  something  which  the  individual  is 
to  receive  and  to  have  within  himself.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  mention  is  made  of  entering 
into  the  kingdom  as  though  it  were  the  kingdom 
which  receives  the  individual,  and  not  the  in- 
dividual the  kingdom.  The  two  ways  of  speak- 
ing, however,  are  not  contradictory.  It  is  pre- 
cisely by  enthroning  in  his  own  spirit  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  kingdom  that  a  man  comes  into 
true  association  with  the  Head  of  the  kingdom 
and  with  his  fellow  members  in  the  kingdom. 
In  this  sense  the  kingdom  must  enter  into  him 
in  order  that  he  may  enter  into  the  kingdom; 
that  is,  he  must  receive  the  principles  of  the 
kingdom  in  order  to  enter  the  circle  of  the 
proper  associations  of  the  kingdom.  In  the 
thought  of  Christ  the  circle  of  associations  was 
undoubtedly  given  no  small  emphasis.  His 
prayer  for  the  heart  union  of  those  who  should 
obey  the  gospel  call  and  His  stress  upon  the 
law  of  mutual  love  and  service  show  that  He 
had  in  mind  a  great  spiritual  society,  which  in 
the  tenor  of  its  pure  and  intimate  relationships 


238  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

should  be  a  fit  antecedent  of  the  society  of 
heaven,  a  kingdom  of  heaven  begun  upon  earth. 
In  what  has  been  said  it  has  been  taken  as 
undoubtedly  true  that  Christ  recognized  an 
inner  aspect  of  the  kingdom.  In  this  aspect 
the  term  connoted  in  His  thought  a  gradually 
unfolding  life,  advancing  after  the  method  of  a 
reality  essentially  ethical  and  spiritual.  Some 
of  His  sayings,  it  is  to  be  granted,  seem  to 
countenance  the  thought  of  the  kingdom  as 
being  ushered  in  by  the  apocalyptic  method, 
that  is,  through  the  sudden  external  crisis,  the 
method  of  irresistible  power.  That  in  the  re- 
port of  His  words  full  credit,  not  to  say  ex- 
cessive credit,  was  given  to  any  element  of  this 
kind  to  which  He  gave  utterance,  is  quite  cer- 
tain, since  the  minds  of  the  disciples,  on  the 
score  of  the  education  which  they  had  received 
in  later  Judaism,  had  a  strong  predilection  for 
apocalyptic  representations.  Christ  may  have 
given  some  place  to  current  formulas  in  this 
line  from  conviction,  as  well  as  by  way  of  ac- 
commodation in  addressing  an  audience  to 
which  truth  was  much  more  accessible  in  pic- 
torial form  than  in  any  other.  What  is  quite 
certain  .is,  that  He  greatly  emphasized  the 
kingdom  as  a  present  inward  reality,  advanc- 
ing in  the  manner  of  an  ethical  or  spiritual  in- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  239 

terest.  Many  and  varied  sayings  evince  as 
much.  Thus  He  implies  that  the  kingdom  is 
already  present  when  He  charges  against  the 
Pharisees:  "The  publicans  and  harlots  go  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  before  you.  ...  Ye  shut 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  against  men ;  for  ye  en- 
ter not  in  yourselves,  neither  suffer  ye  them 
that  are  entering  in  to  enter."  The  like  impli- 
cation goes  with  His  approving  response  to 
the  Scribe,  "Thou  are  not  far  from  the  king- 
dom of  God."  Again,  the  kingdom  is  con- 
ceived as  a  present  and  spiritual  reality  when 
the  condition  for  entrance  is  specified  as  the  be- 
ing converted  and  becoming  as  little  children. 
Further  the  list  of  parables  in  which  the  king- 
dom is  likened  to  the  mysterious  sprouting  and 
growth  of  grain,  to  the  development  of  a  mus- 
tard seed  into  a  large  plant,  and  to  the  working 
of  the  minute  substance  of  leaven  through 
whole  measures  of  meal,  distinctly  favors  the 
thought  of  the  kingdom  as  a  present  and  gradu- 
ally unfolding  reality.  Likewise  the  compari- 
son of  the  kingdom  to  a  treasure  hid  in  the 
field,  for  which  a  man  barters  all  his  posses- 
sions, or  to  a  goodly  pearl  which  the  merchant- 
man values  above  his  whole  stock  besides,  mani- 
festly makes  the  kingdom  a  present  means  of 
personal  enrichment,  an  essentially  spiritual 


240   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

treasure.  A  like  conception  is  indicated  by  the 
collocation  of  petitions  in  the  Lord's  prayer, 
implying,  as  it  does,  that  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom  is  identical  with  the  doing  of  God's 
will  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in  heaven.  Finally 
the  sentence  of  Luke  xvii,  20,  21,  "The  king- 
dom cometh  not  with  observation,  neither  shall 
men  say,  Lo,  here!  or  there!  for  lo,  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  within  you,"  is  decidedly  on  the 
side  of  the  spiritual  as  opposed  to  the  apoca- 
lyptic sense  of  the  kingdom.  The  whole  list  of 
passages,1  it  strikes  us,  powerfully  sustains 
that  sense.  There  is  no  denying  that  Christ 
gave  a  broad  place  to  the  thought  of  the  king- 
dom as  a  present  and  spiritual  reality,  whatever 
other  conception  may  have  taken  rank  as  ac- 
cessory to  this. 

"So  comprehensive  a  theme  naturally  pro- 
vided for  a  variety  of  representations.  Viewed 
as  to  its  source  and  central  principle,  the  king- 
dom is  the  realized  moral  rule  of  God ;  viewed 
as  to  the  relations  of  its  subjects,  it  is  an  ideal 
society.  Regarded  as  a  sum  of  spiritual  goods 
which  accompany  or  result  from  the  realized 
rule  of  God,  the  kingdom  can  be  spoken  of  as 
a  treasure  to  be  received ;  regarded  as  the  do- 
main where  a  divine  and  heavenly  regime  ob- 

1Matt.  xxi,  31,  xxiii,  13;  Mark  xii,  34;  Matt,  xviii,  1-4;  Mark 
lv,  26-29  ;  Matt,  xiii,  31-33,  44  ;  Luke  xvii,  20,  21. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  241 

tains,  it  can  be  described  as  a  province  or  sphere 
which  is  to  be  entered.  As  already  inaugu- 
rated and  in  process  of  development,  the  king- 
dom is  here  and  now ;  as  awaiting  a  great  con- 
summating stage  it  is  yet  to  come.  Obviously 
these  various  aspects  need  not  be  regarded  as 
necessarily  involving  any  contradiction."  2 

The  fact  that  the  apostles  spoke  so  infre- 
quently of  the  kingdom,  and  so  often  of  the 
Church,  may  be  taken  as  a  hint  that  they  put 
into  the  latter  term  much  of  the  meaning  of 
the  former.  Both  terms  contemplate  a  re- 
newed humanity.  The  proper  subjects  of  the 
kingdom  are  those  who  have  given  an  interior 
welcome  to  the  principles  of  the  kingdom.  The 
proper  members  of  the  Church  are  those  who 
in  their  fundamental  disposition  are  prepared 
for  a  brotherly  relation  with  one  another.  The 
one  term  refers  more  directly  to  the  side  of 
divine  association  and  the  other  to  the  side  of 
human  association.  But  since  a  true  relation 
to  the  kingly  Father  in  heaven  implies  a  broth- 
erly relation  to  men,  and  a  brotherly  relation 
to  men  is  most  adequately  grounded  in  a  filial 
relation  to  God,  we  are  led  to  much  the  same 
conception  whether  we  use  the  term  "King- 
dom" or  "Church." 

2  The  citation  is  from  the  author's  "New  Testament  Theology" 
(pp.   75-79).     The  Macmillan  Company,   New  York. 


242  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

No  doubt  the  word  Church  is  more  sugges- 
tive of  a  definite,  tangible,  concrete  institution 
than  is  the  word  Kingdom.  The  one  falls  into 
association  with  place  and  time  more  readily 
than  the  other.  Still  it  is  possible,  by  consider- 
ing the  Church  in  its  more  interior  and  ideal 
sense,  largely  to  overcome  this  difference. 
Taken  in  this  sense  the  Church  overpasses  the 
limits  of  any  visible  organization.  It  is  the 
brotherhood  of  Christ,  the  household  of  the  re- 
generate, the  whole  company  of  those  who  con- 
fess the  headship  of  Christ  and  the  obligations 
of  mutual  love.  Some  of  the  members  may  be 
in  one  division  and  some  in  another.  They 
may  be  distinguished  by  different  ecclesiastical 
names.  But  in  so  far  as  they  belong  to  Christ, 
and  are  devoted  to  the  establishment  of  His 
righteous  dominion  over  the  hearts  of  men, 
they  belong  to  the  one  great  Church  of  Christ. 

It  is  in  this  broad  and  somewhat  ideal  sense 
that  we  purpose  to  use  the  term  Church.  We 
mean  by  it  the  ethico-religious  society  which 
resulted  from  the  ministry  of  Christ,  and  which 
has  the  great  mission  of  establishing  the  prac- 
tical dominion  of  Christ  in  the  world — the  mis- 
sion of  forming  men  into  a  spiritual  house- 
hold, wherein  they  shall  be  governed  by  the  law 
of  supreme  love  to  God  and  of  equal  love  to  the 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  243 

brother.  We  believe  that  it  was  a  Church  of 
this  kind  which  Christ  intended  to  found  and 
which  the  apostles  labored  to  establish. 

Reference  ought  perhaps  to  be  made  in  this 
connection  to  the  "State,"  as  another  term 
connoting  social  relations.  What  is  repre- 
sented by  that  name  received  recognition  in  the 
New  Testament.  Christ's  injunction,  "Render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,"  and 
Paul's  declaration,  "The  powers  that  be  are  or- 
dained of  God,"  imply  the  legitimacy  of  the 
State  and  the  solemn  obligation  to  respect  its 
claims  to  allegiance.  The  subject,  however,  is 
not  developed.  No  formal  discussion  of  the 
nature  of  the  State  occurs.  Neither  are  the 
topics  which  might  be  regarded  as  coming  un- 
der the  purview  of  the  State  given  any  specific 
treatment.  Industrial  schemes,  as  little  as 
political,  are  broached  or  advocated.  This  is 
not  saying  that  New  Testament  teaching  has 
no  bearing  upon  such  themes.  The  warranted 
statement  is  that  it  is  not  given  to  the  formal 
advocacy  of  theories  in  those  domains.  It  ad- 
dresses itself  to  them  only  through  its  ethico- 
religious  principles.  In  all  probability  this  is 
the  medium  through  which  oracles  designed  for 
a  world-wide  religion  could  work  most  satis- 
factorily. 


244  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

//:     The  Relation  of  the  Individual  Christian  to 
the  Church 

In  the  study  of  the  subject  of  the  Church 
one  of  the  first  questions  to  be  suggested  is  the 
relation  of  the  individual  Christian  to  the  fra- 
ternity which  bears  that  name.  Practically,  it 
is  quite  obvious,  there  is  a  large  measure  of 
mutual  dependence.  The  Church  can  have  no 
existence  save  as  there  are  individual  Christians 
who  have  a  mind  to  associate  together.  The 
individual  Christian,  on  the  other  hand,  lacks 
the  best  means  of  attaining  and  developing  a 
Christian  character  save  as  there  is  a  Church 
to  persuade  and  instruct  him.  There  is  thus 
interdependence.  However,  a  certain  logical 
priority  belongs  to  the  individual  Christian, 
since  the  Church  has  no  absolute  prerogative  to 
make  him  a  Christian,  or  to  give  to  him  that  re- 
generate character  which  he  must  have  in  order 
to  gain  anything  more  than  nominal  member- 
ship. Even  if  it  be  supposed  that  the  Church 
has  a  rite  which  works  with  such  magical  effi- 
ciency as  to  regenerate  candidates  who  are  too 
immature  either  to  give  or  to  withhold  consent, 
the  case  will  not  be  much  altered.  For,  every 
one  must  concede  that  the  Church  cannot  hold 
a  person  to  the  regenerate  character  for  a 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  245 

single  hour  after  he  comes  to  the  point  of  moral 
and  religious  intelligence,  aside  from  his  own 
free  choice  and  action.  Ethical  self-surrender 
to  God  consummates  regeneration,  inducts  in- 
to a  right  relation  with  God,  and  lays  a  foun- 
dation for  right  relation  with  all  God's  chil- 
dren, that  is,  with  the  Church  in  its  higher  char- 
acter as  a  spiritual  household.  This  ethical 
deed  may  conceivably  be  consummated  apart 
from  all  instrumentality  of  the  Church,  or  as  a 
purely  personal  transaction  between  the  soul 
and  its  Maker.  As  thus  conditioning  his  own 
regenerate  character,  the  individual  Christian 
occupies  a  position  of  logical  priority  to  the 
Church.  Only  a  company  of  regenerate  indi- 
viduals can  constitute  a  true  Church,  and  it 
rests  ultimately  with  the  individuals  to  deter- 
mine whether  they  shall  gain  and  keep  the  re- 
generate character. 

The  Church  is  third  in  the  order  of  thought, 
God  and  the  individual  soul  taking  precedence. 
Nevertheless,  Christianity  makes  large  ac- 
count of  the  Church.  As  the  religion  of  love 
it  could  not  do  otherwise.  Love  has  its  sphere 
in  fellowship.  The  ideal  which  it  dictates  is  not 
a  multitude  of  perfected  individuals  consid- 
ered merely  as  individuals.  It  is  rather  a  mul- 
titude of  perfected  individuals  perfectly  asso- 


246   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

dated  together,  each  enriching  the  rest  by  the 
outflow  of  his  sympathy  and  good-will,  and 
enriched  in  turn  by  all.  As  a  free  personality 
and  a  candidate  for  uncompelled  union  in  heart 
and  will  with  God,  the  individual  may  condi- 
tion his  entrance  into  the  spiritual  brother- 
hood which  we  call  the  Church.  But  it  is  quite 
certain  that  in  so  far  as  he  unites  himself 
with  God  he  cannot  wish  to  separate  himself 
from  those  whom  he  judges  to  be  children  of 
God.  As  we  have  had  occasion  to  remark,  true 
sonship  toward  God  and  a  brotherly  attitude 
toward  men  are  things  which  Christianity  does 
not  separate.  Genuine  Christian  character 
contains  a  vital  incentive  to  fellowship  and 
grows  in  the  sphere  of  fellowship. 

///:     The   Appropriate   Relation    between    Church 
and  State 

The  Church  and  State  are  manifestly  sepa- 
rated in  significance  by  a  considerable  interval. 
The  former  in  its  proper  character  has  no  defi- 
nite territorial  demarcation.  It  knows  neither 
Jew  nor  Greek,  Barbarian  nor  Scythian,  bond 
nor  free.  Wherever  a  man  responds  in  heart 
and  life  to  God  as  revealed  in  Christ  he  ap- 
pears in  the  Christian  point  of  view  as  one  of 
the  spiritual  brotherhood,  by  right  a  member 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  247 

of  the  Church.  The  State,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  a  certain  territorial  jurisdiction.  The 
dream  of  a  universal  empire  or  of  a  universal 
republic  may  indeed  be  entertained,  but  it  is 
likely  to  remain  a  mere  dream.  To  all  practi- 
cal minds  the  word  "State"  is  one  that  involves 
distinct  local  associations. 

Again,  the  Church  differs  from  the  State  in 
its  wider  outlook.  Contemplating  man  as  an 
immortal  being  it  consistently  puts  the  main 
stress  upon  what  makes  for  his  good  perma- 
nently, or  in  the  world  to  come  as  well  as  in 
this,  and  subordinates  his  material  interests  to 
this  high  end.  One  or  another  form  in  which 
the  Church  clothes  itself  may  be  transient; 
but  in  idea,  as  being  a  spiritual  brotherhood,  it 
stands  for  an  immortal  society.  The  State, 
on  the  other  hand,  while  by  no  means  confin- 
ing its  view  exclusively  to  the  material  interests 
of  its  subjects,  does  give  to  those  interests  a 
relatively  large  attention,  and  in  general  con- 
siders rather  the  demands  of  the  temporal 
earthly  community  than  the  relations  of  men 
to  an  immortal  brotherhood. 

This  antithesis  does  not  of  course  imply  that 
the  one  who  directly  serves  the  State  necessar- 
ily renders  less  service  to  the  immortal  broth- 
erhood than  does  the  one  who  directly  serves 


248  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  Church.  The  direct  service  of  the  former 
to  the  temporal  secular  society  may  be  indi- 
rectly a  most  valuable  service  to  the  spiritual 
and  immortal  society,  just  as  in  turn,  labor 
directly  put  forth  for  the  latter  may  indirectly 
promote  the  best  interests  of  the  secular  soci- 
ety. The  contrast  drawn  involves  no  sort  of 
estimate  of  the  relative  contribution  rendered 
to  the  spiritual  society  by  the  ecclesiastic  and 
the  man  of  secular  vocation  respectively. 

While  differing  in  idea  and  purpose,  the 
Church  and  the  State  have  offices  which  are 
quite  harmonious.  Indeed  the  ideals  which  the 
Church  in  its  true  character  seeks  to  instate, 
in  so  far  as  they  are  made  actually  potent  in 
the  minds  of  men,  reenforce  in  them  the  mo- 
tives for  good  citizenship.  The  Church  thus 
contributes  to  the  health  and  strength  of  the 
State.  On  the  other  side  the  State,  so  far  as 
it  secures  an  orderly,  intelligent,  and  nobly  am- 
bitious society,  prepares  a  favorable  field  for 
the  cultivation  of  the  ideals  which  it  is  the 
office  of  the  Church  to  foster. 

In  consideration  of  this  capability  of  mu- 
tual helpfulness,  the  normal  relation  between 
Church  and  State  is  evidently  one  of  mutual 
friendliness.  An  informal  moral  alliance,  or  a 
tacit  engagement  of  each  to  favor  the  welfare 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  249 

of  the  other,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent  with 
its  own  special  vocation,  ought  to  subsist  be- 
tween them.  But  more  than  this  is  of  doubt- 
ful utility.  A  union  or  close  alliance  involves 
dangers  for  both  sides.  In  case  the  State  is 
strong  and  aggressive  it  exposes  the  Church 
to  the  hazard  of  losing  a  good  part  of  its  lib- 
erty and  of  falling  into  an  unworthy  spirit 
of  clientship.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  Church 
is  strong  and  ambitious  there  is  a  liability,  on 
the  basis  of  an  intimate  connection,  that  it 
should  infringe  to  an  injurious  extent  upon  the 
province  of  the  State.  Ecclesiastical  names 
and  positions  do  not  negate  human  nature  in 
men,  or  guarantee  that,  if  they  have  the  oppor- 
tunity, they  will  not  add  one  increment  of 
power  to  another  up  to  the  point  of  virtual  dic- 
tatorship. Possibly  special  conditions  of  so- 
ciety might  give  a  measure  of  justification  to 
a  close  alliance  of  Church  and  State;  but  on 
the  whole,  it  seems  to  be  the  lesson  of  history 
that  such  an  alliance  is  mischievous.  There  is 
good  reason  to  believe  that  the  Church  best 
serves  itself  and  the  State  by  not  endeavoring 
to  exercise,  or  directly  to  control,  political 
functions,  and  that  the  State  promotes  its  own 
interests,  and  those  of  the  Church  as  well,  by 
not  essaying  to  manipulate  religious  functions. 


250   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Freedom  for  each  in  its  own  sphere,  supple- 
mented by  mutual  friendliness,  the  Church 
fostering  intelligent  devotion  to  the  State,  and 
the  State  giving  to  the  Church  that  protection 
which  is  due  to  any  approved  association  with- 
in its  bounds — this,  it  seems  to  us,  expresses 
the  appropriate  relation  between  the  two. 

The  plea  which  has  sometimes  been  made 
that  the  Church  has  a  distinct  primacy  over 
the  State,  since  it  is  the  bearer  of  God's  will, 
and  the  magistrate  is  bound  not  to  resist  that 
will,  can  be  regarded  as  valid  by  those  only 
who  believe  that  a  monopoly  of  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  divine  will  has  been  given  to  a  com- 
pany of  ecclesiastics,  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Men  who  believe  that  in 
practical  matters  a  righteous  and  fair-minded 
magistrate  may  come  as  near  to  the  mind  of 
God  as  any  other  kind  of  official  will  not  see 
any  force  in  the  plea  under  consideration.  It 
is  to  be  noticed  also  that  a  function  of  tuition 
and  a  prerogative  of  dictation  are  quite  differ- 
ent things.  The  Church  to  the  best  of  its  dis- 
cretion may  leaven  society  with  what  it  regards 
as  sound  deductions  from  gospel  principles, 
and  thus  influence  the  administration  of  the 
State,  without  once  assuming  the  formal  right 
to  control  State  policies.    This  form  of  influ- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  251 

ence  is  far  less  liable  to  provoke  antagonisms 
than  an  attempt  at  direct  interference,  and  in 
the  long  run  is  far  better  suited  to  forward  any 
aims  which  the  Church  may  legitimately  pur- 
sue for  the  well-being  of  society. 

IV:    The  Preeminence  of  the  Ethic o-Religious  Char- 
acter of  tlie  Church  Over  the  Ceremonial  Aspect 

It  is  quite  evident  from  the  preceding  discus- 
sion that  the  Church  lives  and  moves  and  has 
its  being  in  ethical  and  religious  interests.  It 
can  appropriately  be  defined  as  an  ethico- 
religious  society,  and  it  is  abundantly  worth 
while  to  emphasize  the  truth  that  it  is  that 
sort  of  a  society,  as  distinguished  from  a  cere- 
monial institute.  By  a  ceremonial  institute  is 
not  meant  an  organization  which  uses  cere- 
monies in  a  symbolical  or  aesthetic  way,  much 
as  metaphors  and  parables  are  used  for  the 
vivid  presentation  of  truth.  An  essentially 
ethico-religious  society  can  grant  a  very  con- 
siderable license  for  the  use  of  visible  forms 
and  transactions,  so  long  as  the  function  of 
these  is  understood  to  be  simply  that  of  imag- 
ing forth  religious  verities  and  commending 
them  to  those  who  would  not  be  so  fully  ac- 
cessible to  a  more  intellectual  form  of  address. 
Ceremonialism  implies  more  than  the  use  of 


252  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

forms  in  this  way.  It  denotes,  at  least  in  its 
more  pronounced  types,  a  stress  upon  outward 
rites  as  means  for  directly  effectuating  spir- 
itual results,  and  as  conditions  indispensable, 
or  next  to  indispensable,  to  any  true  standing 
in  the  divine  kingdom.  It  assumes  that  salva- 
tion is  dependent  upon  certain  physical  con- 
nections and  performances,  and  not  merely 
upon  the  response  of  the  will  and  affections  of 
the  individual  to  the  ethical  and  religious  re- 
quirements of  divine  service  and  companion- 
ship. Ceremonialism  thus  defined,  it  must 
stoutly  be  maintained,  is  no  part  of  the  true 
conception  of  the  Church.  The  Church  is  an 
ethico-religious  society,  not  a  ceremonial  in- 
stitute, not  an  association  dependent  on  the- 
urgy or  physical  magic. 

This  conclusion  is  supported  in  the  first  place 
by  the  rational  thesis  already  advanced,  that 
the  individual  as  a  sovereign  moral  personal- 
ity gains  the  regenerate  character,  and  is  kept 
in  it,  by  the  unforced  exercise  of  his  own  will. 
Nothing  else  in  the  universe  can  override  that 
or  take  its  place.  The  best  that  the  Church 
can  do  is  to  instruct  and  persuade  the  indi- 
vidual and  thereby  assist  him  to  that  ethical 
self-surrender  which  is  the  open  door  to  sal- 
vation.    Ceremonies  can  effect  no  saving  re- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  253 

suit  apart  from  this  self-surrender,  and  it  is 
at  least  rationally  impossible  to  figure  how  they 
can  serve  among  efficient  antecedents  to  the 
self-surrender  except  as  one  form,  among 
others,  of  instruction  and  persuasion. 

In  the  second  place  a  legitimate  stress  upon 
the  ethical  nature  of  God  is  in  favor  of  the 
ethico-religious  conception  of  the  Church  as 
opposed  to  the  ceremonial.  What  sort  of  con- 
ditions would  an  intensely  ethical  being  impose 
except  those  intrinsically  ethical,  conditions 
addressed  to  the  will,  reason  and  affections  of 
the  individual!  God  surely  cannot  be  con- 
ceived to  put  mere  physical  processes,  or  ma- 
nipulations of  a  material  medium,  in  the  scale 
against  ethical  processes.  The  scorn  which  the 
old  prophets  heaped  upon  the  sacrificial  sys- 
tem of  Israel,  viewed  as  a  substitute  for  the 
fulfillment  of  ethical  requirements,  may  be 
regarded  as  most  truly  representing  the  mind 
of  God.  Indeed,  it  is  nothing  short  of  an  ab- 
surdity to  suppose  that  in  His  administration 
anything  like  the  same  practical  importance 
can  be  attached  to  an  external  rite  as  belongs 
to  such  ethical  exercises  as  repentance,  faith, 
and  love. 

In  the  third  place,  the  tenor  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament decidedly  legitimates  the  ethico-reli- 


254  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

gious  conception  as  contrasted  with  the  cere- 
monial. It  can  truly  be  said  that  scarcely  so 
much  as  a  page  of  the  New  Testament  is  occu- 
pied with  ceremonial  prescription.  Christ  in- 
dicated briefly  His  wish  that  His  disciples 
should  employ  bread  and  wine  in  an  emble- 
matic rite  for  the  commemoration  of  His  sac- 
rificial death.  An  illustrative  reference  to  bap- 
tism seems  to  occur  in  Christ's  conversation 
with  Nicodemus.  In  the  total  statement  of 
the  Master  to  the  Jewish  ruler  the  emphasis 
is  plainly  on  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
new  birth.  But,  in  order  to  elucidate  to  His 
inquirer  the  meaning  of  this  birth,  He  refers 
to  water,  thereby  indicating  that  being  born  of 
the  Spirit  signifies  the  experience  of  an  in- 
ward cleansing.  In  one  of  the  four  Gospels  a 
passing  reference  is  made  to  the  fact  of  bap- 
tism being  administered  by  Christ's  disciples.3 
The  rite  at  that  stage,  however,  could  hardly 
have  had  a  distinctively  Christian  sense.  Only 
in  a  single  recorded  sentence  is  it  made  to  ap- 
pear that  Christ  took  pains  to  establish  any 
general  obligation  respecting  baptism.4  This  is 
the  whole  sum  of  attention  which  He  is  known 
to  have  given  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  new  dis- 
pensation.   The  discourse  in  the  sixth  chapter 

3  John  iii,   22,  iv,   lf  2. 
•Matt,  xxviii,  19. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  255 

of  John's  Gospel  cannot  properly  be  cited  in 
behalf  of  a  contrary  conclusion.  The  reference 
in  that  chapter  to  partaking  of  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ  is  a  figurative  way  of  incul- 
cating the  necessity  of  appropriating  by  faith 
His  person  and  work  in  the  whole  extent  of 
their  religious  significance.  That  no  material 
transaction  was  contemplated  by  this  lan- 
guage is  unequivocally  signified  by  the  inter- 
pretation put  upon  it  by  Christ  Himself:  "It 
is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profit- 
eth  nothing :  the  words  that  I  have  spoken  unto 
you  are  Spirit,  and  are  life." 

Ceremonial  references  are  as  infrequent  in 
the  Epistles  as  in  the  Gospels.  Practical  abuse 
at  Corinth  gave  Paul  the  occasion  for  the  single 
reference  to  the  Lord's  Supper  which  is  con- 
tained in  his  writings.  In  the  whole  body  of 
the  Epistles  there  are  scarcely  more  than  a  half 
dozen  sentences  which  relate  to  the  import  of 
baptism.  One  or  another  of  these  sentences, 
it  may  be  granted,  seems  to  give  that  rite  a 
certain  association  with  regeneration.  But 
only  a  limited  significance  can  be  assigned  to 
that  association,  in  consideration  of  two  promi- 
nent facts.  Baptism  at  that  time  was  admin- 
istered at  once  in  connection  with  entrance 
upon  the  new  life  of  Christianity,  and  so  natur- 


256   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ally  was  given  a  close  connection  in  thought 
with  regeneration.  It  was  a  rite  at  once  typi- 
cal of  regeneration,  and  in  the  sight  of  the  com- 
pany of  believers  practically  coincident  with  its 
effectuation.  Under  such  conditions  it  was  not 
unnatural  that,  in  energetic  rhetorical  dis- 
course, baptism  should  occasionally  have  been 
spoken  of  as  a  rite  of  spiritual  cleansing, 
though  in  strictness  it  rather  typified  than 
effected  the  cleansing.  This  is  one  fact  to  be 
noticed.  The  other  fact  is  the  very  important 
one,  that  the  New  Testament  is  vastly  remote 
from  representing  the  essentially  regenerate 
state  as  necessarily  depending  upon  baptism. 
In  some  cases  it  connects  its  initiation  with  the 
ministry  of  the  word.  In  the  vast  majority 
of  instances  it  represents  its  effectuation  as  de- 
pending upon  purely  ethico-religious  condi- 
tions, such  as  repentance  and  faith.  In  its 
dominant  teaching  the  New  Testament  is  true 
to  Christ's  condemnation  of  the  Pharisaic  ex- 
aggeration of  ceremonial  efficacy.  It  does  not 
set  aside  the  ultra-Judaic  model  merely  for  the 
purpose  of  putting  another  of  the  same  kind, 
only  christened  with  a  new  name,  in  its  place. 
It  proclaims  a  spiritual  kingdom,  an  ethico- 
religious  society,  which  is  entered  upon  ethico- 
religious  conditions — repentance,  faith,  obedi- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  257 

ence,  love — and  not  on  the  basis  of  physical 
transactions.  A  readiness  to  fulfill  the  essen- 
tial conditions  may  imply  a  willingness  to 
meet  such  minor  conditions  as  the  rites  which 
are  suited  to  give  visible  expression  to  faith 
and  to  serve  as  a  bond  of  fellowship.  But  no 
one  is  looking  to  the  right  basis  of  Christian 
character  or  standing  when  he  is  looking  to 
external  rites  as  opposed  to  the  act  and  the 
habit  of  self-surrender  and  filial  obedience  to 
God  as  revealed  in  Christ.  The  Church  can- 
not be  turned  into  a  ceremonial  institute  with- 
out contradicting  the  decided  tenor  of  the 
New  Testament. 

In  denying  to  ceremonies  a  chief  importance, 
and  in  repudiating  them  as  instruments  of 
magical  effects,  we  are  remote  from  disparag- 
ing them  in  so  far  as  they  are  adapted  to  stimu- 
late to  motives  and  activities  of  an  ethical  and 
religious  nature.  Truth  may  be  pictured  in 
rites  as  well  as  uttered  in  words.  Such  rites  as 
baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  give  visible 
expression  to  the  marvelous  grace  and  love  of 
God  revealed  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  They 
are  properly  regarded,  therefore,  as  very  use- 
ful and  sacred. 


258   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

V:     The  Liberty  of  the  Church  in  Respect  of  Polity 

If  Christianity,  as  an  ethico-religious  sys- 
tem, is  forbidden  to  place  the  chief  emphasis 
upon  ceremonies,  in  like  manner  it  is  forbidden 
to  treat  the  question  of  polity  or  government 
as  of  the  foremost  importance.  No  one  par- 
ticular form  of  polity  can  be  regarded  as  of  the 
essence  of  the  Church.  This  conclusion  rests, 
in  the  first  place,  upon  the  rational  principle 
that  a  mere  form  of  association  is  in  the  nature 
of  things  of  secondary  consequence,  and  may 
properly  vary  to  meet  varying  conditions. 
That  men  should  be  at  heart  children  of  God 
and  ready  for  brotherly  fellowship  is  the  su- 
preme demand  for  the  subsistence  of  a  Church. 
It  applies  to  any  other  world  as  well  as  to  this. 
But  who  will  say  that  a  particular  form  of 
Church  government  is  thus  of  permanent  neces- 
sity? Has  any  one  the  boldness  to  affirm  that 
a  college  of  cardinals,  or  a  house  of  bishops, 
or  an  assembly  or  conference  of  delegates,  is 
a  necessity  of  heavenly  society?  But  if  any 
form  of  Church  government  may  conceivably 
end  before  the  Church  ends,  it  is  evidently  not 
strictly  of  the  essence  of  the  Church.  It  may 
perhaps  be  the  preferable  form  at  a  certain 
stage,  but  that  fact  would  not  necessarily  se- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  259 

cure  for  it  a  superior  claim  in  connection  with 
some  other  stage,  to  say  nothing  about  an 
exclusive  right.  In  the  sphere  of  civil  govern- 
ment, according  to  a  very  wide  consensus  of 
opinion,  respect  must  be  had  to  the  character 
of  the  subjects,  and  therefore  no  one  form  can 
be  pronounced  universally  and  unqualifiedly 
the  best.  The  natural  inference  is  that  the 
same  principle  holds  good  of  religious  society. 
In  short,  it  seems  scarcely  less  appropriate,  in 
a  rational  point  of  view,  to  make  the  title  to 
true  manhood  depend  on  wearing  a  particular 
style  of  clothes,  than  to  insist  that  a  par- 
ticular form  of  polity  is  necessary  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Church. 

Concurring  with  the  force  of  these  rational 
grounds,  we  have  a  general  historical  consid- 
eration which  amounts  to  a  practical  demon- 
stration. For  no  considerable  period  has  the 
Christian  Church  been  under  one  unvarying 
polity.  During  long  intervals  different  types 
have  subsisted  side  by  side  over  broad  areas. 
Now  will  any  one  say  that  the  fruits  of  Chris- 
tian piety  have  been  confined  to  the  field  of 
one  special  polity?  The  plain  truth  is  that 
these  fruits  have  not  been  limited  to  a  fenced- 
in  area.  Under  widely  diverse  forms  of  church 
government  men  have  given  indubitable  signs 


260  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  having  reached  in  their  dominant  disposition 
the  high  estate  of  children  of  God.  An  occa- 
sional individual  may  perhaps  have  the  hardi- 
hood to  deny  this  fact  and  to  maintain  that  out- 
side of  certain  ecclesiastical  lines  men  live  only 
a  starved  kind  of  spiritual  life  upon  a  moiety 
of  uncovenanted  grace.  But  broad-minded 
and  well-informed  men,  whose  vision  is  not 
shut  in  by  Pharisaic  mist,  know  that  spiritual 
fruitage  has  not  been  limited  to  the  area  of 
one  particular  polity  as  opposed  to  that  of 
others.  We  are  therefore  summoned  by  an 
overwhelming  historical  attestation  to  believe 
that  a  polity  of  a  particular  sort  is  not  an  es- 
sential of  Christian  society. 

This  conclusion  is  furthermore  supported  by 
specific  data  of  early  Christian  history.  It  can- 
not be  proved  that  Christ  imposed  anything 
like  a  definite  polity  or  church  constitution. 
While  he  placed  under  special  training  a  select 
group  of  disciples,  He  trained  them  rather  for 
a  prophetical  calling  than  for  that  of  ecclesi- 
astical magistrates.  He  educated  them  above 
all  things  to  be  missionary  heralds  of  great 
religious  facts  and  truths.  No  record  indi- 
cates that  He  put  so  much  as  an  outline  of 
church  constitution  into  their  hands.  He  spoke 
indeed  a  few  strong  sentences  relative  to  the 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  261 

discharge  of  the  responsibilities  of  religious 
leadership.  But  these  sentences  were  only- 
vivid  and  inspiriting  forms  of  the  assurance 
that,  in  the  great  task  of  founding  Chris- 
tian society  and  gaining  for  it  a  standing  room 
in  the  world,  they  should  be  effectually  as- 
sisted by  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  is  absolutely 
no  need  to  read  into  this  half  dozen  sentences  a 
specific  form  of  church  constitution  made  bind- 
ing for  all  time.  History  shows  that  the 
apostles  themselves  did  not  discover  in  them 
any  such  meaning.  They  did  not  start  out 
with  any  ready  made  scheme.  Polity  was  un- 
mistakably a  matter  of  growth  under  their 
administration,  new  features  being  supplied  as 
new  exigencies  called  for  them.  At  a  given 
point  the  office  of  deacon  was  instituted,  at 
least  in  germ.  At  another  and  unknown  point 
elders  were  constituted  a  governing  board  in 
each  local  church.  The  New  Testament  does 
not  show  that  episcopacy  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
that  is,  of  individual  headship  over  a  specific 
territory,  had  been  reached  in  the  life-time  of 
the  apostles.  But  it  was  installed  in  Asia 
Minor  near  the  beginning  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, and  became  within  a  few  decades  a  com- 
mon feature  of  the  Church.  Now  a  polity  re- 
alized in  this  way  of  progressive  advance  can- 


262   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

not  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have  been  a 
matter  of  distinct  original  prescription. 
Neither  is  it  necessary  or  practicable  to  take 
it  as  an  authoritative  model.  If  one  seizes  it 
at  a  particular  point,  and  says,  up  to  this  stage 
it  is  authoritative,  he  can  at  once  be  met  with 
the  inquiry,  How  do  you  know  that  it  is  not 
left  to  the  practical  wisdom  of  the  Church  to 
bring  in  new  adjustments,  in  order  to  meet 
new  conditions?  The  discretion  of  the  early 
Church  accommodated  its  scheme  to  new  exi- 
gencies. Who  knows  that  the  exigencies  com- 
ing properly  into  consideration  were  all  met 
by  Christian  society  in  the  Graeco-Roman 
world  within  the  narrow  limits  of  the  apostolic 
age? 

The  conclusion  that  a  specific  type  of  polity 
is  not  of  the  essence  of  the  Church  does  not 
exclude  the  opinion  that  one  type  is  better 
fitted  than  another  to  be  approved  as  the  ulti- 
mate or  ideal  type.  In  the  civil  sphere  there 
is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the  form 
suited  to  the  most  advanced  society  is  the  one 
which  contemplates  men  as  a  body  of  freemen 
having  properly  a  voice  in  the  management  of 
matters  of  common  concern.  Analogy  then 
favors  the  supposition  that,  for  the  advanced 
stages  of  religious  society,  the  most  suitable 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  263 

form  of  government  will  be  that  which  evokes 
and  utilizes  the  interested  cooperation  of  the 
whole  body  of  intelligent  Christians.  It  hap- 
pens, too,  that  apostolic  precedent  seems  to  be 
largely  in  favor  of  this  type.  For  while  the 
apostles,  in  virtue  of  their  special  training  and 
competency,  were  unavoidably  intrusted  with  a 
species  of  leadership,  they  fulfilled  this  respon- 
sibility in  the  spirit  of  Peter's  injunction  to 
the  elders,  to  rule  not  as  lording  it  over  their 
charges,  but  as  making  themselves  examples 
to  the  flock.  It  was  their  custom,  as  is  made 
quite  apparent  in  the  first  chapters  of  the 
Book  of  Acts,  to  consult  the  full  assembly  of 
believers  in  matters  of  general  interest;  and 
in  their  estimate  the  whole  body  of  the  Chris- 
tian people  was  ranked  as  a  "holy  priesthood," 
qualified  "to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices  ac- 
ceptable to  God  through  Jesus  Christ."  5 

VI:     The  Church  Militant 

The  primitive  disciples  needed  all  the  en- 
couragement which  the  great  promises  of  their 
Master  were  suited  to  impart.  How  could 
they  expect  to  succeed  unless  their  ascended 
Lord  should  shower  down  might  upon  them 

5 1  Pet.  ii.  5.  For  a  somewhat  elaborate  exposition  of  historical 
and  doctrinal  matters  pertinent  to  the  theme  of  church  govern- 
ment, the  reader  is  referred  to  the  author's  "Sacerdotalism  in 
the  Nineteenth   Century."     The  Abingdon  Press,  New  York. 


264   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

through  the  presence  and  energetic  working 
of  the  Holy  Spirit?  The  world  into  which 
they  were  sent  forth  was  unfriendly,  in  large 
part  fiercely  hostile.  To  this  unfriendly 
world  they  bore  a  message  well  calculated  to 
elicit  enmity.  The  world  was  proud;  they 
preached  the  need  of  humility.  The  world  was 
full  of  sensuality;  they  preached  the  demands 
of  purity.  The  world  was  intemperately  de- 
voted to  pleasure-seeking;  they  preached  so- 
briety and  self-restraint  in  the  use  of  the  lower 
enjoyments.  The  world  was  given  to  idolatry ; 
they  preached  the  need  of  turning  to  the  wor- 
ship and  service  of  the  true  God.  Their  mes- 
sage was  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  a  verit- 
able water  of  life  to  any  who  were  athirst  for 
righteousness;  but  it  was  not  wanted  by  the 
great  mass  of  carnally-minded  men.  So  the 
pathway  of  discipleship  was  often  a  pathway 
of  martyrdom,  and  the  witness  for  Jesus  had 
to  witness  with  his  shed  blood  as  well  as  with 
his  spoken  word. 

With  the  spread  of  Christianity  and  the  ex- 
tension of  its  influence  over  large  portions  of 
the  world,  the  storm  of  persecuting  violence 
was  for  the  larger  part  brought  to  an  end.  But 
that  fact  by  no  means  implies  that  the  Church 
has  ceased,  or  can  cease  during  the  period  of 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY   265 

earthly  history,  to  be  a  militant  Church,  a 
Church  engaged  in  arduous  and  continuous 
spiritual  warfare.  Its  high  aim  is  to  unite  men 
in  a  universal  brotherhood  wherein  the  law  of 
supreme  love  to  God  and  of  equal  love  to  the 
neighbor  shall  be  fulfilled.  In  pursuing  this 
aim  it  must  encounter  all  the  forces  of  rebel- 
lion in  men's  hearts  against  the  higher  law, 
all  their  selfishness,  greed  for  wealth  and  lust 
of  power,  all  their  frivolity  of  spirit,  lack  of 
lofty  aspiration,  and  tendency  to  fall  under 
the  dominion  of  enslaving  appetite.  Indeed 
the  Church  has  no  more  difficult  task  to  fulfill 
than  that  of  keeping  its  own  members  true  to 
the  high  standards  set  before  them  in  the  gos- 
pel. How  easy  it  is  for  them  to  lapse  into 
worldliness,  to  grow  lukewarm  in  their  zeal, 
and  to  forget  the  demands  of  patience,  love, 
and  brotherliness !  Again  and  again  has  the 
Church  been  wounded  and  put  to  shame  by 
those  who  should  have  been  its  glory  and  de- 
fense. A  far-seeing  mind  might  have  antici- 
pated that  such  would  be  the  case ;  for,  the  task 
of  lifting  men  out  of  sin  into  holiness,  out  of 
egoism  into  unselfish  love,  is  the  most  difficult 
of  all  that  are  attempted  beneath  the  skies,  and 
we  cannot  well  think  of  omnipotence  itself 
being  employed  upon  anything  more  difficult. 


266   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

But  if  the  Church  must  be  militant  it  has 
still  no  occasion  to  deplore  its  lot.  It  is  its 
glory  that  it  is  called  to  contend  for  the  best 
and  the  highest,  even  for  the  dominion  of  truth, 
love,  and  righteousness.  It  is  its  crown  of 
rejoicing  that,  taking  the  ages  through,  it  is 
certain  to  contend  successfully.  He  who  has 
overcome  the  world  leads  on  the  hosts  of  His 
followers  and  guarantees  at  least  a  wide-reach- 
ing victory. 

According  to  a  confident  expectation  of 
many  of  our  contemporaries,  a  grand  expedi- 
ent is  pending  for  ushering  in  the  triumphant 
reign  of  Christ  in  the  earth.  He  is  to  come 
in  personal  distinct  manifestation  of  Himself, 
and  to  accomplish  speedily  results  which  the 
ordinary  agencies  of  evangelism  can  approxi- 
mate with  extreme  slowness,  if  indeed  they  can 
make  any  headway  at  all  toward  them.  The 
advocates  of  this  doctrine  of  the  "premillen- 
nial  advent"  differ  from  one  another  on  vari- 
ous points.  Those  among  them  who  can  per- 
haps be  credited  with  the  largest  significance, 
since  they  constitute  an  appreciable  percentage 
in  some  of  the  larger  communions,  hold  gener- 
ally such  propositions  as  the  following:  (1) 
The  visible  advent  of  Christ,  though  its  date 
is  not  exactly  determinable,  is  in  all  probabil- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  267 

ity  near  at  hand.  (2)  The  present  world 
powers,  as  being  essentially  hostile  to  the  reign 
of  Christ,  are  to  be  displaced,  and  in  their 
removal  such  measures  of  force  will  be  em- 
ployed as  may  be  found  necessary.  (3)  The 
Jews,  reinstated  in  Palestine,  and  converted 
to  the  Christian  faith,  will  serve  as  the  special 
agents  of  Christ  in  executing  His  sovereign 
will.  ( 4 )  The  Kingdom  thus  set  up  and  made 
practically  triumphant  will  endure  for  a  thou- 
sand years.  At  the  close  of  this  millennial 
period  the  order  or  regime  of  eternity  will  be 
installed. 

Passing  by  other  forms  of  Premillenarian 
or  radical  Adventist  theory  we  will  record  a 
few  comments  upon  the  scheme  inclusive  of  the 
propositions  named.  In  the  first  place,  the 
grounds  cited  for  the  conclusion  that  the  sec- 
ond advent  of  Christ  is  close  at  hand  are  not 
convincing.  Adventurous  theories  figure  too 
largely  in  them  to  leave  to  them  any  degree  of 
credibility.  Thus  there  is  an  arbitrary  dealing 
with  chronological  data,  or  with  biblical  state- 
ments that  are  accounted  such,  the  motive  be- 
ing to  secure  such  a  long  range  to  certain  pro- 
phetical intimations  that  they  can  be  made  to 
apply  to  modern  unf  oldments.  In  the  last  cen- 
tury this  end  was  secured,  in  numerous  in- 


268   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

stances,  by  construing  chronological  terms  as 
symbolical.  Thus  "days"  were  interpreted  as 
meaning  years  and  "times"  as  denoting  periods 
of  three  hundred  and  sixty  years  each.  In  re- 
cent years  premillenarians,  belonging  to  the 
constituency  with  which  we  are  specially  con- 
cerned, for  the  most  part  are  not  inclined,  so 
far  as  we  can  judge,  to  render  a  positive  ap- 
proval to  this  exegetical  device.  They  prob- 
ably experience  some  difficulty  in  supposing 
that  the  biblical  writers  were  so  desperately 
enamored  of  word-puzzles  that  they  used 
terms  distant  by  a  whole  diameter  from  the 
meanings  which  they  attached  to  them.  Pos- 
sibly they  may  have  noticed  that  the  Psalmist 
speaks  of  silver  being  purified  "seven  times," 
and  did  not  care  to  attribute  to  him  the  fanciful 
notion  of  the  metal  being  kept  in  the  furnace 
twenty-five  hundred  and  twenty  years.  At  any 
rate  they  seem  not  generally  to  have  embraced 
the  exegetical  device  under  consideration.  But 
very  largely  they  have  taken  up  with  a  device 
for  securing  a  long  range  to  prophetic  utter- 
ances which  is  about  as  much  exposed  to  chal- 
lenge as  is  that  which  most  of  them  have  hesi- 
tated to  espouse.  In  order  to  extract  from 
the  books  of  Daniel  and  Revelation  forecasts 
bearing  on  our  own  times,  they  take  the  lib- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  269 

erty  to  construe  the  ten  kings  which  they  men- 
tion as  denoting  ten  kingdoms,6  which  can  be 
supposed  to  be  perpetuated  through  many 
generations.  The  expedient  may  be  ingenious, 
but  what  there  is  to  recommend  it  besides  the 
use  to  which  it  is  put,  no  one  can  discover. 
Moreover,  it  encounters  obstacles  which  may 
fitly  be  regarded  as  condemning  it  to  down- 
right failure.  As  respects  the  Book  of  Daniel 
the  possibility  of  the  extended  outlook  has  not 
been  duly  established  by  the  exponents  of  Pre- 
millenarianism,  and  in  all  likelihood  cannot  be 
established.  That  possibility  is  excluded  if  by 
the  fourth  kingdom  depicted  in  Daniel's  pro- 
phecy was  not  meant  the  Roman  Empire,  but 
rather  the  Greek  Empire  of  Alexander  and 
his  successors,  which  had  already  come  to  an 
end  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  Now 
recent  biblical  criticism  is  strongly  enlisted  for 
this  conclusion,  and  it  certainly  finds  weighty 
support  in  the  contents  of  the  Book  of  Daniel. 
So  a  decidedly  precarious  status  is  given  to  any 
construction  built  upon  this  book  relative  to  the 
era  or  the  conditions  of  the  second  advent. 

In  case  of  the  Book  of  Revelation  the  out- 
look is  undoubtedly  upon  the  Roman  Empire. 
But  the  Revelator  tells  us  himself  that  he 

«  Dan.  vii :  Rev.  xiii,  xvii. 


270   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

writes  of  things  shortly  to  come  to  pass.  Re- 
liable data  respecting  events  to  be  introduced 
in  our  age  he  does  not  supply.  He  makes  no 
attempt  to  carry  his  forecast  beyond  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  except  in  a  very  brief  reference 
to  the  climax  which  ends  earthly  history.  Now 
the  Roman  Empire  has  utterly  disappeared, 
and  the  attempt  to  view  it  as  conserved  in  ten 
kingdoms,  into  which  it  is  supposed  to  have 
been  broken  up,  plainly  miscarries.  What  the 
Revelator  mentions  is  not  ten  kingdoms,  but 
ten  kings.  Moreover  nobody  can  name  with 
the  slightest  assurance  any  such  group  of  king- 
doms. And  suppose  it  were  possible  to  name 
them,  it  would  be  quite  outside  of  rational  war- 
rant to  count  them  as  representative  of  any- 
thing like  the  world  dominion  for  which  the 
Roman  Empire  stood  in  the  mind  of  the  Reve- 
lator. They  would  be  seen  to  constitute  only 
a  part  of  Europe  (with  a  possible  inclusion  of 
a  fraction  of  Western  Asia) .  The  great  world 
of  the  Orient  and  the  great  world  of  the  Ameri- 
can Occident,  which  powerfully  condition 
world  affairs  to-day,  fall  entirely  outside  their 
bounds.  The  plain  truth  is,  we  are  in  a  world 
where  forecasts  relating  to  occurrences  to  take 
place  on  the  theater  of  the  Roman  Empire  can 
have  no  intelligible  application,  at  least  in  any 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  271 

literalistic  sense.  The  Book  of  Revelation  is 
out  of  the  field,  so  far  as  data  for  determining 
the  time  of  the  advent  are  concerned. 

The  belief  that  Christ's  visible  coming  is 
close  at  hand,  which  in  some  minds  is  founded 
on  the  increased  migration  of  the  Jews  to  Pal- 
estine and  on  current  discussions  about  the 
provision  of  a  home  for  them  in  that  land,  has 
no  serious  claim  to  consideration.  A  paltry- 
embryonic  Palestinian  state  in  which  the 
people  of  that  race  constitute  only  a  minority, 
a  state  dependent  for  its  initiation  and  con- 
tinued existence  on  the  friendly  offices  of 
Christian  powers,  is  no  sign  of  world-govern- 
ing competency  in  the  Jews;  neither  can  it 
serve  as  a  pledge  that  they  will  be  set  over  the 
world,  under  the  headship  of  Christ,  except 
to  those  who  are  determined  that  omnipotence 
shall  employ  itself  in  fulfilling  their  fond 
speculations. 

The  conditions  advise  us  to  desist  from  at- 
tempts to  fix,  even  approximately,  the  time  of 
Christ's  second  coming.  We  are  not  likely 
to  succeed  in  such  a  venture  any  better  than 
did  the  Montanists  of  the  second  century. 

Our  second  comment  on  the  radical  Adven- 
tist  or  Premillenarian  scheme  applies  to  the 
very  tenuous  foundation  provided  for  the  idea 


272    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  a  visible  reign  of  Christ  upon  the  earth  at 
any  future  period.  Not  a  single  unequivocal 
text  can  be  cited  from  the  New  Testament  in 
behalf  of  that  idea.  Only  one  text  can  be  cited 
which  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  possibly  in- 
closing the  notion  of  the  visible  reign.  That 
is  found  in  Revelation  xx,  4-6,  where  it  is 
declared  of  a  company  of  martyred  saints 
that,  by  virtue  of  a  resurrection,  they  shall 
live  and  reign  with  Christ  a  thousand  years. 
No  specification  is  made  as  to  the  theater  of 
this  joint  reign.  Some  reputable  commenta- 
tors think  the  Revelator  had  reference  to  a 
visible  earthly  theater;  other  commentators 
worthy  of  high  respect  are  of  the  opinion  that 
he  designed  to  picture  in  dramatic  form  a  rule 
having  its  seat  in  the  heavenly  sphere.  From 
the  terms  employed  it  is  impossible  to  reach 
a  certain  conclusion. 

The  New  Testament  taken  as  a  whole  fur- 
nishes no  reliable  basis  for  the  doctrine  of  an 
earthly  kingdom  under  the  visible  headship  of 
Christ.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  positively  ad- 
verse in  its  teaching.  As  an  expert  investi- 
gator of  apocalyptic  literature  remarks:  "In 
all  other  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
[aside  from  the  Revelator]  this  doctrine  is  not 
only  ignored,  but  its  acceptance  is  made  im- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  27S 

possible  in  their  definite  doctrinal  systems  of 
the  last  things,  for  in  these  the  second  advent 
and  the  last  judgment  synchronize.  Thus  the 
millennium,  or  the  reign  of  Christ  for  one 
thousand  years  on  the  present  earth,  or  any 
other  form  of  the  temporary  Messianic  King- 
dom, cannot  be  said  to  belong  to  the  sphere 
of  Christian  doctrine."  7  To  appeal  to  the  Old 
Testament  on  this  point  will  not  help  out  the 
case  for  the  Premillenarian.  Whatever  antici- 
pations the  old  prophets  may  have  entertained 
about  a  revived  and  flourishing  Jewish  King- 
dom, they  put  forth  no  message  relative  to  the 
descent  of  the  Messiah  from  heaven  to  take 
personal  visible  direction  of  that  kingdom. 

Our  third  comment  respects  the  Premil- 
lenarian thesis  on  the  primacy  which  is  to  fall 
to  the  Jews  in  the  government  of  the  world 
during  the  millennial  era.  Where  is  the  basis 
for  that  thesis,  that  radical  assumption  about 
the  perpetuation  of  a  most  emphatic  racial  dis- 
tinction under  what  we  are  accustomed  to 
designate  a  Christian  dispensation?  The  as- 
sumption certainly  stands  in  amazing  contrast 
with  the  import  of  Christ's  declaration:  "Who- 
soever shall  do  the  will  of  God,  the  same  is  my 

7  R.    H.    Charles,    "A    Critical    History    of   the    Doctrine    of   the 
Future   Life  in    Israel,   in   Judaism,   and   in   Christianity,"   p.   350. 


274    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

brother,  and  sister,  and  mother."  8  It  is  also 
counter  to  His  repeated  utterances  on  the  na- 
ture of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  as  an  inner  spir- 
itual reality,  rather  than  an  external  magis- 
tracy in  the  hands  of  either  Jews  or  Gentiles. 
An  attempt  to  invalidate  the  force  of  this 
series  of  texts  by  distinguishing  between 
"kingdom  of  heaven"  and  "Kingdom  of  God," 
and  by  applying  the  former  term  to  the  mil- 
lennial kingdom  under  Jewish  ruler  ship,  dis- 
tinctly fails;  for  it  is  made  plain  to  a  demon- 
stration by  a  comparison  of  passages  that  the 
distinction  of  terms  was  due  to  varying  re- 
ports of  identical  utterances  of  Christ. 

No  less  than  the  standpoint  of  Christ  that 
of  Paul  is  clearly  contradicted  by  this  intem- 
perate exaltation  of  Jewish  nationality.  It 
squarely  collides  with  his  maxim  that  in  Christ 
there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  Barbarian  nor 
Scythian.9  Its  tendency  is  to  generate  a 
counter  current  against  his  great  achievement 
in  behalf  of  the  universality  of  Christianity. 
Paul  indeed  had  hopes  for  the  Jews,  his  kins- 
men according  to  the  flesh;  but  these  simply 
amounted  to  the  anticipation  that  in  the  mercy 
of  God  they  would  cease  to  furnish  a  chief 
theater  for  antichrist,  and  would  join  with  the 

"Mark  iii,  35. 
•Col.  iii,   11. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  275 

Gentiles  in  a  common  faith  on  the  crucified  and 
risen  Lord.  To  postulate  for  them  an  extraor- 
dinary world-wide  regency  was  plainly  foreign 
to  his  thought. 

The  Johannine  writings — the  fourth  Gospel 
and  the  Epistles  of  John — fully  match  the 
Pauline  in  lack  of  support  for  the  notion  of  a 
prospective  enthronement  of  the  Jews  over 
this  world.  While  great  account  is  made  in 
them  of  the  valuable  bequests  from  the  Juda- 
ism of  the  past,  they  indicate  an  attitude  of 
singular  aloofness  from  contemporary  Juda- 
ism, and  assign  to  the  Jewish  people  in  rela- 
tion to  the  future  no  significance  whatever. 
That  people  is  put  out  of  sight  as  unmistak- 
ably as  are  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  in  the 
picture  which  Christ  gave  to  the  woman  of 
Samaria  relative  to  the  worship  of  the  coming 
age. 

Failing  of  any  basis  in  the  New  Testament 
for  his  doctrine  of  the  regnant  position  predes- 
tined to  the  Jews,  the  Premillenarian  is  logi- 
cally driven  to  lean  upon  Old  Testament  data. 
No  doubt  the  prophets  gave  expression  to 
some  glowing  anticipations  relative  to  a  thriv- 
ing Jewish  Kingdom  in  the  coming  days.  But 
is  it  necessary  to  look  for  a  literal  fulfillment 
of  all  that  they  penned  in  this  vein?    Premil- 


276   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

lenarians  themselves  find  it  impossible  to  do 
that.  For  instance,  for  the  major  part  they 
limit  the  kingdom  set  up  at  the  second  advent 
under  the  primacy  of  the  Jews  to  one  thousand 
years,  whereas  in  various  of  the  old  prophe- 
cies the  Israelite  realm  is  represented  as 
destined  to  stand  forever.10  In  the  use  of 
reasonable  canons  of  interpretation  some  cur- 
tailment of  the  demand  for  a  correspondence 
between  prediction  and  the  historical  unfold- 
ment  is  quite  legitimate.  In  voicing  their  ex- 
pectations the  prophets  had  to  depend  largely 
upon  materials  supplied  by  their  environment. 
It  is  enough  to  find  that  their  expectations,  if 
not  exactly  fulfilled,  were  not  really  belied. 
In  fact  it  can  truly  be  said  that  they  were 
transcended.  For  Israel  to  be  raised  up  from 
the  apparent  death  of  the  Babylonish  cap- 
tivity, to  serve  as  the  household  in  which  the 
Prince  of  Peace  was  born,  and  to  have  oppor- 
tunity to  transmit  its  precious  accumulated 
riches  for  the  furtherance  of  His  spiritual  rule 
over  mankind — all  this  amounts  to  the  fulfill- 
ment of  a  higher  calling  than  falls  to  the  lot 
of  any  ordinary  kingdom  of  this  world. 

We  are  far  from  wishing  to  convey  the  im- 
pression  that   Premillenarians   are   all   com- 

10  Dan.  ii,  44;  Ezek.  xxxvii,  24,  25. 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  27T 

mitted  to  equally  emphatic  views  on  the  ex- 
traordinary importance,  the  inalienable  pri- 
macy of  the  Jews  in  relation  to  the  divine 
kingdom  in  this  world.  What  it  is  permissible 
to  say  is,  that  their  scheme  at  the  extreme 
makes  Christianity  only  a  comparatively 
empty  interlude  between  two  stages  of  Juda- 
ism, and  turns  God  Most  High  into  an  om- 
nipotent Judaizer. 

Our  final  comment  is  in  expression  of  the 
conviction  that  the  Premillenarian  scheme 
unduly  exalts  the  efficacy  of  agencies  essen- 
tially physical  in  their  nature.  It  proclaims 
the  impotency  of  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
to  convert  the  world.  In  face  of  Christ's  own 
declaration  that  it  was  expedient  for  Him  to 
go  away,  in  order  that  His  cause  might  be  ad- 
vanced through  the  more  abundant  working  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  it  asserts  that,  apart  from  His 
return  and  visible  rule,  the  prospect  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  or  the  triumph  of  Chris- 
tianity, is  hopeless.  To  thus  exalt  instrumen- 
talities of  an  external  kind  is  below  the  plane 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  is  without  discov- 
erable warrant  anywhere.  History  has  not 
indicated  that  physical  might  and  display  are 
potent  to  accomplish  spiritual  transformations. 

We  deeply  respect  the  earnest  piety  of  a 


278    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

large  proportion  of  present-day  Premillenar- 
ians.  But  to  give  countenance  to  their  scheme 
would  contradict  the  interpretation  of  Chris- 
tianity which  permeates  this  volume.  The 
Church  militant  will  do  wisely  to  expect  to  ad- 
vance the  Kingdom  of  God  by  using,  in  co- 
operation with  the  spiritually  present  Christ, 
such  means  as  the  preaching  and  practice  of 
the  holy  truths  of  the  gospel. 

VII:     The  Great  Events  Preparatory  to  the  Era  of 
the  Church  Triumphant 

The  two  events  which  stand  out  most  promi- 
nently in  the  biblical  representation  are  the 
resurrection  and  the  judgment.  Of  the  for- 
mer the  most  detailed  treatment  is  supplied  by 
Paul's  discourse  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
First  Corinthians.  Here  the  resurrection  is 
represented  as  an  event  coextensive  with  at 
least  the  whole  company  of  the  righteous  dead, 
occurring  at  a  special  era,  and  investing  its 
subjects  with  bodies  of  a  higher  type  than  those 
formerly  possessed,  bodies  so  well  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  spirits  that  they  may  be  styled 
spiritual  bodies,  though  not  such  in  strictness. 
The  apostle  makes  his  statements  apparently 
with  dogmatic  confidence.  It  has  been  sur- 
mised, however,  by  some  commentators  that, 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  279 

shortly  after  writing  down  this  epitome  of  his 
belief,  he  changed  his  view  on  one  prominent 
point,  and  came  to  hold  that  the  resurrection, 
instead  of  occurring  for  men  generally  at  a 
given  era,  in  immediate  proximity  with  the 
close  of  the  dispensation,  takes  place  shortly 
after  death  for  each  individual.  The  ground 
for  this  inference  is  the  language  used  in  Sec- 
ond Corinthians  v,  1-4,  where  the  apostle 
speaks  of  his  longing  to  be  clothed  upon  with 
his  house  from  heaven,  as  opposed  to  remaining 
unclothed,  or  in  a  disembodied  state.  The  form 
of  statement  can  suggest  that  death  was  ex- 
pected to  be  followed  speedily  by  an  invest- 
ment of  the  spirit  with  a  new  body.  However, 
in  all  probability  that  was  not  Paul's  thought. 
In  his  vivid  anticipation  he  passes  over  the  in- 
terval to  be  spent  in  the  intermediate  state, 
which  indeed  he  had  no  means  of  measuring 
and  was  at  liberty  to  rate  as  very  brief.  Later 
texts  from  his  hand  imply  that  he  still  enter- 
tained the  supposition  of  a  general  resurrec- 
tion at  a  particular  era.11 

It  was  noticed  elsewhere  that  some  of  the 
New  Testament  references  to  the  resurrection 
might  be  understood  as  denoting  simply  the 
transference  of  the  dead  to  an  estate  of  vital 

11  Phil,  iii,  20,  21.     See  also  2  Tim.  ii,  18. 


280    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

immortality,  and  not  an  investment  with 
bodies.  But  the  implication  is  that  the  latter 
conception  prevailed  in  the  primitive  Chris- 
tian community.  The  subject  as  a  whole  is 
one  upon  which  minute  dogmatic  specification 
is  not  appropriate.  It  incloses  a  prophecy  of 
a  great  good,  the  precise  nature  of  which  must 
be  left  to  future  discovery. 

The  great  final  judgment  is  a  theme  which 
readily  lends  itself  to  dramatic  representation. 
It  is  in  this  practically  effective  form  that  it 
is  depicted  in  the  Scriptures.  The  terms  em- 
ployed are  those  congenial  to  the  religious 
imagination.  The  basal  truth  to  be  elicited 
from  them  is  the  certain  consummation  of  the 
judicial  process  which  is  going  on  through  the 
ages,  the  ultimate  complete  adjustment  be- 
tween lot  on  the  one  hand  and  character  and 
conduct  on  the  other.  Every  man  shall  infal- 
libly reach  his  own  proper  place — that  is  the 
lesson  of  the  judgment  scene. 

In  conformity  with  prophetical  terminology, 
the  penalty  falling  upon  those  unable  to  meet 
the  judgment  tests  is  sometimes  represented 
as  a  casting  forth  into  darkness  and  fire.  In 
the  use  of  such  imagery  there  was  probably  no 
other  intention  than  to  emphasize  the  extrem- 


THE  SOCIAL  IDEAL  OF  CHRISTIANITY  281 

ity  of  the  loss  incurred.  It  would  be  no  real 
trespass,  therefore,  against  biblical  authority 
to  give  full  scope  to  the  rational  consideration 
that  extirpation  of  moral  and  religious  sen- 
sibility is  the  essential  and  truly  dreadful  pen- 
alty of  persistent  misdoing.  Indeed  this  very 
principle  of  retribution  may  be  regarded  as 
implied  in  this  declaration  from  Christ:  "He 
that  hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  even 
that  which  he  hath."  12 

By  parity  of  reasoning  the  great  reward  of 
those  favored  with  an  approving  sentence  is 
perfection  of  moral  and  religious  sensibility, 
fullness  of  all  the  elements  of  a  rich  and  satis- 
fying inner  experience.  Heaven  is  a  name  for 
the  estate  wherein  all  fellowship,  service,  and 
activity  are  completely  dominated  by  love.  To 
one,  however,  who  enthrones  this  point  of  view 
large  liberty  may  fitly  be  granted  in  painting 
accessory  features.  For  the  great  mass  of 
people  the  picturesque  is  capable  of  fulfilling 
a  useful  office.  Therefore  many  sentences  in 
the  Book  of  Revelation  carry  a  beneficent  mes- 
sage. Like  strains  of  celestial  music  they  de- 
scend age  after  age  upon  the  hearts  of  those 
who  feel  deeply  the  burdens  and  troubles  of 
life  in  its  earthly  environment. 

"Mark  iv,  25. 


CHAPTER     VIII:      THE      PREEMI- 
NENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  AS 
RESPECTS   A  RIGHTFUL 
CLAIM  TO  UNIVERSALITY 
AND  FINALITY 

The  grounds  of  faith  in  the  title  of  Chris- 
tianity to  universality  and  finality  have  been 
in  very  large  part  indicated  in  the  preceding 
chapters.  In  relation  to  some  of  these  grounds 
there  is  very  little  call  for  further  exposition. 
It  will  be  appropriate,  however,  even  at  the 
expense  of  a  slight  measure  of  repetition,  to 
award  a  mention  even  to  these,  in  order  that 
the  reader  may  have  under  his  hand  a  com- 
pact statement  of  the  whole  list  of  important 
data  which  warrant  the  heading  given  to  this 
closing  discussion.  Our  task  is  to  set  forth 
these  data  as  economically  as  may  be  feasible. 

/:    A  Very  Unique  and  Significant  Antecedent 

The  Old  Testament  cannot  fairly  be  de- 
scribed in  terms  less  emphatic.  In  manifold 
ways  it  placed  a  full  treasury  at  the  disposal 
of  Christianity.     Its  ample  list  of  wise  and 

282 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  283 

vividly  expressed  precepts  on  the  conduct  of 
life,  its  dramatic  presentation  of  lessons  in 
morals  through  a  long  series  of  stirring  histori- 
cal scenes,  its  wonderfully  rich  and  varied 
psalmody — these,  along  with  much  else,  were 
invaluable  contributions  to  the  later  religion. 
The  crowning  bequest,  however,  can  be 
summed  up  in  a  single  phrase,  ethical  mono- 
theism. From  no  other  quarter  could  this  in- 
dispensable foundation  have  been  derived. 
Monotheism  elsewhere,  if  it  had  any  formal 
acknowledgment,  was  compromised  more  or 
less  by  the  coexistence  of  polytheistic  worships, 
also  by  dualistic  or  pantheistic  conceptions, 
and  was  marred  as  to  its  ethical  character  by 
the  wide  scope  given  to  magic.  A  pure,  lofty, 
and  thoroughly  moralized  monotheism  it  was 
the  high  office  of  the  Hebrew  people  to  fashion. 
Other  religions  have  had  antecedents  by 
which  they  have  profited;  but  it  is  quite  safe 
to  say  that  in  genuine  religious  potency  they 
were  not  comparable  to  the  Old  Testament  in 
its  relation  to  Christianity.  Possibly  it  might 
be  imagined  that  Mohammedanism,  as  being 
posterior  in  origin  to  Christianity  as  well  as  to 
Judaism,  was  favored  with  peculiarly  rich  and 
extensive  antecedents.  Indeed,  advocates  of 
Bahaism,  that  recent  offshoot  from  Moham- 


284   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

medanism,  have  in  effect  expressed  this  judg- 
ment. But  they  proceed  on  very  mistaken 
premises.  Mohammed  never  had  any  first- 
hand or  adequate  acquaintance  with  either 
Judaism  or  Christianity.  Neither  he  nor  those 
who  followed  him  made  a  real  beginning 
toward  bringing  their  religion  into  organic 
connection  with  that  which  emanated  from 
Jesus  Christ.  Instead  of  going  forward  on 
that  basis,  they  fell  behind  even  the  outcome 
of  the  Jewish  dispensation.  The  simple  indis- 
putable fact  is  that  the  temporal  posteriority, 
while  taken  advantage  of  to  make  sundry  bor- 
rowings, was  not  utilized  with  the  care  or  un- 
derstanding requisite  to  enable  Mohamme- 
danism to  approximate  to  the  plane  of  the 
antecedent  religions. 

Now  what  does  the  lot  of  Christianity  in  be- 
ing dowered  with  this  exceptional  inheritance 
import?  Is  it  to  be  presumed  that  it  simply 
happened  to  be  favored  with  the  marvelous 
background  supplied  by  the  Old  Testament 
dispensation?  The  warrantable  inference,  it 
strikes  us,  is  that  the  arrangement  was  the 
product  of  design,  that  God  wanted  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  extraordinary  Messenger  of 
Truth  who  was  to  come  in  the  fullness  of  time. 

In  laying  the  maximum  stress  upon  the  Old 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  285 

Testament  antecedent  of  Christianity,  it  has 
not  been  designed  to  intimate  that  the  historic 
evolution  in  other  quarters  contributed  nothing 
to  the  New  Testament  religion.  Our  conten- 
tion is  that  materials  from  elsewhere  were  dis- 
tinctly subordinate  to  those  which  were  fur- 
nished by  the  Hebraic  dispensation.  Neither 
the  Graeco-Oriental  compound  embodied  in 
the  Mystery  Religions  nor  any  other  religious 
product  anterior  to  the  days  of  Jesus  and  the 
apostles  is  to  be  compared  with  the  Old  Tes- 
tament as  a  source  of  New  Testament  religion.1 

II:     Incomparable  Realization  of  the  Union  of  the 
Ideal  and  the  Historical 

It  has  been  noticed  that  the  union  of  the 
ideal  and  the  real  in  a  historic  personality  is  a 
requisite  for  the  most  efficient  religion,  and 
that  Christianity  claims  to  possess  in  its  Foun- 
der this  requisite. 

The  claim  is  exceptional.  In  no  one  of  the 
ethnic  systems  can  a  proper  parallel  be  found. 
The  founder  of  one  or  another  of  these  sys- 
tems, it  is  true,  may  have  been  idealized  at  an 
epoch  comparatively  distant  from  that  of  his 
place  in  history.    But  no  assumption  of  an  im- 

1  For  a  compact  exposition  of  the  mystery  religions  and  their 
bearing  on  the  New  Testament  content,  the  reader  is  referred 
to  the  author's  little  book,  "The  Mystery  Religions  and  the  New 
Testament."     The  Abingdon  Press,  New  York. 


THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

maculate  character  and  career  appears  in  their 
earlier  oracles,  and  the  validity  of  the  systems 
is  not  made  dependent  upon  such  an  assump- 
tion. Mohammed  made  no  claim  to  have  lived 
a  perfect  life;  neither  was  such  a  claim  made 
for  him  by  his  early  followers.  Moreover  the 
record  proves  that  he  was  guilty  of  downright 
faults.  Not  to  mention  other  instances,  the 
compromise  which  he  made  for  a  brief  interval 
with  the  Meccan  idolatry  cannot  possibly  be 
rated  as  anything  else  than  a  culpable  misstep. 
Gautama  started  out  in  ignorance  of  the  true 
way,  and  acquired,  in  his  own  opinion,  ability 
to  teach  that  way  as  the  result  of  a  discovery 
made  in  his  maturer  years.  That  he  was,  or 
needed  to  be  for  the  discharge  of  his  vocation, 
an  example  of  a  sinless  career  was  no  tenet  of 
original  Buddhism.  Primitive  Confucianism 
and  primitive  Zoroastrianism  were  equally 
remote  from  asserting  such  a  tenet  in  behalf 
of  their  founders.  A  genuine  counterpart  to 
the  standpoint  of  primitive  Christianity  is  not 
to  be  found  in  any  of  these  domains.  The  un- 
doubting  conviction  stamped  upon  the  apos- 
tolic literature,  and  so  reflecting  the  tone  of 
the  preaching  that  followed  close  upon  the 
crucifixion — that  in  Christ  the  pure  ideal  of 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  287 

character  and  conduct  was  enshrined — stands 
out  as  an  unparalleled  fact  in  history. 

Proof  that  this  lofty  claim  was  actually  ful- 
filled in  Christ  cannot,  of  course,  be  furnished 
in  the  form  of  direct  demonstration,  since  sin- 
less perfection  reaches  too  deep  to  be  discov- 
erable by  ordinary  means  of  observation.  The 
most  that  can  be  expected  is  such  a  cumulation 
of  indirect  evidences  as  may  serve  as  a  proper 
basis  of  rational  certitude.  These  we  have 
reviewed  (Chapter  III)  and  found  not  to  be 
scanty,  so  that  on  this  score  we  may  with  so- 
briety credit  to  Christianity  an  enormous  pre- 
eminence. 

777:     Exceptional  Prestige  and  Authority  on  the 

Score  of  the  Transcendent  Personality  of  the 

Founder 

Under  the  preceding  topic  the  whole  em- 
phasis was  given  to  the  unique  distinction 
which  pertains  to  Christianity  through  the  ex- 
emplification of  the  ideal  of  sinless  perfection 
in  the  person  of  Christ.  No  reference  was 
made  to  any  endowment  transcending  human 
measures.  It  needs  to  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  the  stainless  life  and  character  of 
Christ  hold  no  indifferent  relation  to  the  proof 
of  His  transcendent  nature  and  work.    If  He 


288  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

was  unique  to  that  extent,  we  are  under  prac- 
tical compulsion  to  regard  His  uniqueness  as 
reaching  to  a  still  higher  plane.  He  who  em- 
bodied the  moral  ideal,  whose  unstained  spirit 
must  have  been  singularly  open  to  the  higher 
realm  of  truth  and  reality,  cannot  be  denied 
a  peculiar  competency  to  render  authentic  tes- 
timony respecting  Himself.  Now  that  testi- 
mony makes  for  the  conclusion  that  He  was, 
and  knew  Himself  to  be,  the  Son  of  God  in 
a  transcendent  sense.  No  other  induction  can 
be  derived  from  the  Gospels,  even  from  the 
Synoptical  Gospels,  as  we  have  taken  pains  to 
show  (Chapter  IV),  to  say  nothing  about  the 
Johannine  version  of  the  life  story  of  Christ. 

The  very  pronounced  bearing  of  this  truth 
of  Christ's  transcendent  or  divine  sonship  on 
the  preeminence  and  finality  of  Christianity 
cannot  be  challenged.  No  ethnic  system 
claims  any  such  distinction  for  its  founder, 
unless  it  be  in  narratives  which  historical  criti- 
cism stamps  as  sheer  mythology.  Good  cre- 
dentials for  the  actual  possession  of  the  dis- 
tinction on  the  part  of  Christianity  are  ex- 
cellent proof  that  it  can  never  be  superseded. 
Doubtless  the  expression  of  its  principles 
which  is  given  in  one  age  may  be  improved 
upon  in  the  next.     But  no  historic  personage 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  289 

can  outrank  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  religion 
which  has  Him  for  its  personal  center  must 
be  regarded  as  in  its  characteristic  teachings 
thoroughly  authoritative. 

IV:     Inclusion  of  Every  Prominent  Excellence  Dis- 
coverable in  the  Ethnic  Systems 

If  we  take  these  systems  as  they  have  been 
sketched  (Chapter  I),  and  make  full  account 
of  their  best  traits,  we  shall  find  it  difficult,  or 
rather  impossible,  to  convict  Christianity  of 
falling  short  at  any  point.  The  best  which 
they  are  able  to  bring  forward  is  represented, 
in  at  least  equal  measure,  within  its  ample 
content.  So  obvious  is  this  fact  that  a  very 
brief  list  of  illustrations  will  suffice.  Begin- 
ning with  Mohammedanism  we  may  specify 
as  its  most  commendable  feature  the  solemnity 
and  force  with  which  it  depicts  the  majestic 
sovereignty  of  God  and  the  need  of  unquali- 
fied surrender  thereto.  The  Koran  contains 
passages  which  worthily  accentuate  this  order 
of  truth.  Nevertheless  the  Christian  finds  no 
occasion  to  turn  from  his  own  oracles  when 
he  seeks  grounds  for  an  overmastering  impres- 
sion of  divine  sovereignty  and  of  human  obli- 
gation to  submission.  In  the  writings  of 
prophets  and  psalmists,  as  also  in  certain  lofty 


290  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

strains  of  the  New  Testament,  he  finds  more 
than  an  equivalent  to  the  Mohammedan  trib- 
ute to  the  inexpressible  greatness  and  absolute 
authority  of  God.  Furthermore  he  cannot  fail 
to  notice  the  high  distinction  of  his  own  reli- 
gion in  joining  with  the  given  aspect  of  truth 
an  ample  declaration  of  a  complementary  as- 
pect. Notwithstanding  a  frequent  formal 
mention  of  the  mercy  of  God,  the  Koran,  as 
has  been  observed,  is  comparatively  empty  in 
respect  of  the  delineation  of  this  side  of  the  di- 
vine nature  and  administration.  The  warmly 
colored  picture  of  the  paternal  character 
of  God,  which  is  a  recurring  feature  in  the 
Christian  revelation,  is  wanting.  In  the  Mo- 
hammedan outlook  the  mountain  chain,  sym- 
bolical of  God's  might  and  sovereignty,  stands 
cold  and  somber  under  an  unlighted  sky.  To 
the  vision  of  the  Christian  the  mountain  chain 
is  set  aglow  by  the  warm  and  brilliant  rays 
of  the  risen  sun. 

Glancing  next  at  Zoroastrianism  we  are 
warranted  to  select  as  its  most  praiseworthy 
feature  the  emphasis  it  placed  upon  the  an- 
tithesis between  the  morally  good  and  the  mor- 
ally evil.  It  was  very  much  to  its  credit  that 
it  set  before  its  votaries  the  ideal  of  life  as  an 
earnest  militant  struggle  for  the  triumph  of 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  291 

the  principles  and  powers  of  righteousness  in 
the  world  over  their  insistent  foes.  It  is  not 
apparent,  however,  that  it  can  claim  on  this 
score  an  appreciation  which  is  not  due  in  at 
least  equal  degree  to  Christianity.  Does  not 
the  latter  reach  the  very  acme  of  intensity  in 
its  summons  to  unrelenting  warfare  against 
all  evil  intrenched  in  the  heart  of  the  indi- 
vidual? Does  it  not  also  make  the  kingdom  of 
God,  the  perfect  rule  of  righteousness,  the 
most  worthful  thing  in  view,  the  great  object 
of  prayer  and  effort?  Surely  the  summons 
to  moral  conflict  was  never  sounded  forth  in 
more  emphatic  and  imperative  terms  than 
those  employed  by  Christ  and  the  apostles. 
No  deficit  along  this  line  can  be  charged 
against  Christianity.  No  less  than  Zoroas- 
trianism  it  stresses  the  moral  conflict,  and  it 
has  a  clear  advantage  in  the  better  basis  which 
it  provides  for  the  ethical  interest  by  its  avoid- 
ance of  the  notion  of  a  primal  dualism. 

The  need  of  comparison  with  Buddhism  is 
suggested  in  particular  by  the  exemplary 
stress  which  it  placed  upon  the  duty  of  uni- 
versal benevolence.  As  has  been  indicated, 
this  missionary  religion  gave  expression  to 
some  very  beautiful  and  worthy  sayings  on 
the    obligation    to    unstinted    sympathy    and 


292   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

kindness.  It  is  fair  to  urge,  nevertheless,  that 
Christianity  has  no  cause  of  abashment  in  the 
presence  of  this  phase  of  Buddhistic  teaching. 
Observe  the  force  of  Christ's  injunction  to  love 
even  the  enemy,  the  import  of  the  parable 
which  He  uttered  respecting  the  good  Samari- 
tan, the  example  of  His  marvelous  self-de- 
votement  in  going  to  the  cross  for  the  un- 
worthy, the  logical  implications  of  Paul's  lofty 
strain  on  the  primacy  of  love,  the  far-reaching 
significance  of  the  great  Johannine  declara- 
tion that  God  is  love.  Who  that  reviews  this 
line  of  New  Testament  content  can  think  of 
Christianity  as  being  outranked  by  any  rival 
as  respects  deeply  founding  and  effectually 
urging  the  duty  of  universal  benevolence?  In 
its  maxims  it  is  not  at  all  below  the  plane  of 
Buddhism,  and  it  has  the  great  relative  ad- 
vantage that  it  affords  in  its  ideal  of  man,  as 
the  subject  of  a  full  and  rounded  life  in  an 
imperishable  kingdom,  a  consistent  basis  for 
enforcing  benevolent  interest  in  one's  fellows. 
Buddhism  cannot  claim  to  possess  that  basis. 
In  representing  the  complete  cessation  of  de- 
sire as  the  ideal  consummation  for  the  in- 
dividual, it  virtually  stamps  the  extinction  of 
benevolent  concern  for  others  as  something 
quite  normal,  as  something  indeed  distinctive 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  29S 

of  those  who  have  been  made  perfect.  Through 
this  breach  of  self-consistency  Buddhism  un- 
mistakably falls  below  Christianity  as  an  ex- 
ponent of  the  principle  of  universal  benevo- 
lence. 

Any  further  specimen  of  an  excellence  in 
an  ethnic  system  which  affords  any  real  oc- 
casion of  considering  the  relative  merits  of 
Christianity  is  not  readily  suggested.  It  may 
not  be  quite  superfluous,  however,  to  mention 
the  doctrine  of  divine  immanence  as  taught  by 
Brahmanism,  whether  in  its  earlier  or  its  later 
history.  This  doctrine,  it  is  to  be  admitted, 
stands  for  a  truth  which  must  be  given  a 
prominent  place  in  any  rounded  system  of  re- 
ligion, and  the  extent  to  which  it  has  prevailed 
in  India  furnishes  no  mean  tribute  to  the  vital- 
ity of  the  religious  consciousness  of  the  Hindu 
people.  It  is  not  to  their  discredit  that  they 
have  been  disposed  to  think  of  God  as  all  in 
all.  The  ground  of  criticism  lies  in  the  failure 
to  give  due  place  to  the  complementary  truths 
relative  to  the  transcendence  of  God  and  the 
reality  of  men  as  true  agents.  Through  a 
too  exclusive  stress  on  the  immanence  of  God 
they  left  no  place  to  coexistent  reality,  and 
gravitated  into  a  world-denying  pantheism. 
Christianity  illustrates  here,  as  in  other  con- 


294   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

nections,  its  superiority,  in  that  it  gives  a  due 
recognition  to  complementary  truths.  It 
greatly  emphasizes  the  divine  immanence,  the 
fact  that  in  God  we  live  and  move  and  have 
our  being.  At  the  same  time  it  refuses  to  sink 
God  in  the  world,  or  to  make  His  being  simply 
co-extensive  with  the  world,  claiming  for  the 
latter  a  real  though  dependent  existence. 

The  outcome  of  the  illustrative  comparisons 
which  have  been  made  is  to  enforce  the  con- 
viction that  Christianity  is  large  and  sym- 
metrical enough  in  its  doctrinal  content  to  give 
a  proportionate  place  to  all  the  distinctive  ex- 
cellences which  are  discoverable  in  the  ethnic 
systems.  That  this  feature  strongly  supports 
the  claim  to  finality  is  quite  evident. 

V:     Inculcation  of  the  True  Ideal  on  tlie  Relation 
between  Morality  and  Religion 

To  harmoniously  relate  these  two  great  in- 
terests and  to  secure  to  each  its  appropriate 
province  is  a  task  of  exceeding  difficulty. 
Numberless  pages  of  religious  history  show 
how  one  or  the  other  interest  has  been  tres- 
passed against.  In  the  less  developed  re- 
ligions generally  a  very  imperfect  adjustment 
has  had  place.  The  judgment  sometimes  ex- 
pressed that  in  the  primitive  faiths  religion  and 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  295 

morality  were  given  no  connection  whatever 
we  find  occasion  to  repudiate.  It  is  true,  nev- 
ertheless, that  the  association  between  them 
was  subject  to  much  obscuration  and  mutila- 
tion. The  extent  to  which  belief  in  the  efficacy 
of  magic  insinuated  itself  into  the  religious 
sphere  had  a  deleterious  effect  upon  the  in- 
terests of  morality,  as  conditioning  well-being 
not  upon  character  and  conduct,  but  upon  ar- 
bitrary and  non-moral,  not  to  say  immoral, 
shifts.  Even  in  the  more  developed  ethnic 
systems  the  scope  awarded  to  magic  has  often 
impaired  the  supremacy  of  the  ethical  point 
of  view.  The  ancient  Egyptian  and  Baby- 
lonian religions  furnish  illustration.  Along 
with  magic  an  exaggerated  ceremonialism — 
which  indeed  always  incorporates  much  of  the 
magical  element — has  not  infrequently  tended 
to  qualify  the  imperativeness  of  moral  de- 
mands. Of  this  development  Brahmanism, 
as  we  have  seen,  especially  in  its  pre-Bud- 
dhistic  period,  afforded  a  notable  example  in 
that  it  made  the  gods  themselves  dependent 
upon  the  sacrificial  system,  and  contradicted 
its  more  spiritual  maxims  by  a  line  of  declara- 
tions which  imply  that  ceremonial  observances 
may  compensate  even  for  serious  faults  in  con- 


296  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

duct.  Thus  in  numerous  instances  the  moral 
interest  has  been  greatly  compromised. 

On  the  other  handV,  we  find  in  the  ethnic 
systems  examples  of  a  combination  between 
morality  and  religion  quite  decidedly  exposed 
to  criticism,  in  that  the  province  of  religion  is 
abnormally  curtailed.  Confucianism  and  ori- 
ginal Buddhism  are  exposed  to  this  stricture. 
The  former  accords  but  a  cold  recognition  to 
the  objects  of  religious  veneration,  and  lays 
a  preponderant  stress  upon  a  rather  prosaic 
type  of  moralism.  The  latter  took  so  little 
account  of  the  agency  of  the  gods  as  practi- 
cally to  ignore  them,  and  concentrated  em- 
phasis upon  a  moralism  of  a  genial  and  mys- 
tical type.  In  both  religions  the  deficit  on  the 
religious  side  was  too  great  not  to  enforce 
compensations  of  one  or  another  kind  in  the 
later  developments. 

A  glance  at  other  ethnic  systems  would  only 
add  to  the  evidence  that  an  ideal  adjustment 
of  the  relations  between  morality  and  religion 
is  not  discoverable  in  that  range.  For  that 
adjustment  we  must  turn  to  Christianity.  Of 
course  it  is  not  meant  to  be  asserted  that 
throughout  its  history  Christianity  has  pre- 
sented a  perfect  model  of  the  union  of  morality 
and  religion.    That  would  be  vastly  too  much 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  297 

to  say.  What  can  be  asserted  is  that  in  the 
spirit  and  teaching  of  the  Founder  morality 
and  religion  appear  inseparably  conjoined 
and  receive  each  an  ideal  measure  of  emphasis. 
The  model  in  its  rounded  perfection  is  there 
set  before  the  ages,  as  has  been  shown  at  some 
length  (Chapter  III).  The  possession  of  this 
feature  by  Christianity  evidently  secures  for  it 
an  extraordinary  claim  to  preeminence. 

VI:     The  Upholding  of  a  Lofty  Ideal  of  Spiritual 
Sonship 

Between  the  servile  and  the  filial  disposition, 
between  working  for  wages  and  devotement  to 
worthy  tasks  through  the  simple  constraint 
of  a  holy  affection,  there  is  a  wide  interval. 
Religion  at  its  best  cannot  fail  to  award  an 
emphatic  preference  to  the  filial  ideal  as 
against  the  servile.  That  the  choice  of  Chris- 
tianity is  most  heartily  and  distinctly  awarded 
to  the  former  is  not  open  to  any  fair  question. 
Doubtless  it  is  true  that  in  the  Christian  ora- 
cles not  a  little  is  said  about  the  rewards  which 
await  the  faithful.  But  declarations  of  this 
order  are  to  be  understood  in  connection  with 
the  New  Testament  system.  The  rewards 
held  forth  are  rewards  of  congruity,  the  results 


298   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  which  conduct  and  character  fitly  go  for- 
ward in  a  well-ordered  economy.  They  are 
neither  bestowed  by  the  Lord  in  the  spirit  of 
a  paymaster,  nor  received  in  the  temper  of  the 
mere  servant  working  for  hire.  The  rewarder 
is  the  heavenly  Father,  who  in  His  bestow- 
ments  takes  account  of  receptivity  rather  than 
of  desert  in  any  legal  sense;  and  the  recipient 
is  the  child  who  recognizes  in  all  that  he  re- 
ceives tokens  of  fatherly  goodness.  Accord- 
ing to  the  declaration  of  Christ  men  can  enter 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  only  by  becoming  as 
little  children;  and  logically  continuance  in 
the  kingdom  and  participation  in  its  riches 
must  be  regarded  as  dependent  on  a  continu- 
ous exemplification  of  the  disposition  which 
secured  admission. 

The  superiority  which  Christianity  exhibits 
on  this  theme  is  far  from  being  simply  that  of 
formal  teaching.  To  repeat  a  truth  which  has 
already  been  emphasized,  a  unique  basis  for 
a  religion  of  sonship  was  supplied  in  the  ex- 
traordinary self-consciousness  of  Christ,  His 
sun-clear,  radiant  sense  of  a  filial  relation  to 
the  Father. 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  299 

VII:     The  Making  Room  for  Normal  Emphasis  on 

Service  to  the  Present  Age  Alongside  of  Serious 

Regard  for  the  World  to  Come 

That  an  emphatic  strain  is  contained  in  the 
Bible  relative  to  the  interests  of  the  world  to 
come  is  undeniable.  To  some  it  may  seem  that 
this  strain  is  thoroughly  dominant  and  leaves 
but  little  scope  for  emphasis  on  the  duty  of 
making  the  most  of  this  present  world  for  one's 
self  and  one's  fellows.  This  judgment,  how- 
ever, is  properly  subject  to  modification.  Two 
prominent  considerations  can  be  urged  for  the 
conclusion  that  a  religion  founded  on  the  Bible 
can  and  ought  to  adopt  a  congenial  attitude 
toward  all  true  interests  of  this  world.  In  the 
first  place  biblical  teaching  strongly  commends 
the  life  of  industry  and  thrift.  One  has  but  to 
glance  into  the  wisdom  literature  of  the  Old 
Testament  to  get  a  vivid  impression  of  the 
scorn  with  which  it  is  permeated  for  the  slug- 
gard. In  the  New  Testament  the  demand  for 
diligence  in  business  may  be  put  less  rhetori- 
cally, but  it  is  urged  no  less  earnestly.  Paul 
reminds  his  disciples  that  the  enthusiasms  of 
a  new-found  religious  experience  afford  no 
valid  ground  for  forsaking  the  calling  in  which 
one  was  brought  up.    According  to  the  testi- 


300  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

mony  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  he  denounces 
the  believer  who  neglects  to  provide  suitably 
for  his  household  as  a  virtual  denier  of  the 
faith  and  worse  than  an  infidel.  With  all  ear- 
nestness he  inculcates  the  work  habit,  and 
goes  so  far  as  to  prescribe,  "If  a  man  will  not 
work,  neither  let  him  eat."  2 

In  the  second  place,  the  Bible,  along  with 
this  insistence  upon  work,  promulgates  with 
vigor  the  obligation  to  whole-hearted  un- 
grudging benevolence.  Now  put  these  two 
things  together,  the  prescription  of  the  work 
habit  and  the  inculcation  of  universal  benevo- 
lence, and  you  have  a  sufficient  basis  for 
worldly  enterprise.  Every  enterprise  which 
sober  judgment  can  sanction  as  being  on  the 
whole  for  the  good  of  men  appears  in  the  light 
of  biblical  authority  not  only  permissible,  but 
obligatory.  It  would  be  no  trespass  against 
that  authority  to  put  into  the  primitive  com- 
mand to  subdue  the  earth  the  widest  meaning 
which  the  most  ambitious  advocates  of  the  duty 
of  utilizing  natural  forces  could  wish,  in  the 
exercise  of  a  far-seeing  wisdom,  to  have  put 
into  it. 

But  what  about  the  biblical  emphasis  on 
regard  for  the  world  to  come?    What  about 

2  See  1  Cor.  vii,  20 ;  1  Tim.  v,  8  ;  Eph.  iv,  28 ;  1  Thess.  iv,  11 ; 
2  Thess.  iii,  10. 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  301 

the  injunction  to  lay  up  treasure  in  heaven? 
Is  not  this  aspect  of  the  Christian  teaching  in 
conflict  with  the  purpose  and  endeavor  to 
make  the  most  of  this  world  ?  Possibly  in  con- 
flict with  one  or  another  plan  for  making  the 
most  of  this  world,  but  not  in  conflict  with  a 
wisely-devised  plan.  The  most  good  cannot 
be  gotten  out  of  this  world  by  the  one  who  is 
swallowed  up  in  purely  earthly  interests.  Man 
cannot  live  by  bread  alone ;  his  capacious  spirit 
requires  other  aliment  for  health  and  satisfac- 
tion. Complete  absorption  in  material  enter- 
prise is  condemned  to  go  on  to  disappointment. 
It  cramps  personality,  whereas  enlargement  of 
personality  is  ever  the  condition  of  real  and 
lasting  gain.  In  the  long  run  citizenship  in 
this  world  can  come  to  its  best  only  by  being 
linked  with  citizenship  in  a  higher  world. 
Doubtless  it  is  possible  to  neglect  the  near  at 
hand  through  a  too  exclusive  attention  to  that 
which  is  above  and  beyond.  But  this  is  only 
saying  that  it  is  possible  to  give  insufficient 
heed  to  the  biblical  requisition  for  work,  thrift, 
world-subduing  enterprise.  In  the  ordering 
of  life  which  the  biblical  religion  approves  the 
interest  near  at  hand  is  supplemented  rather 
than  excluded  by  the  transcendent  interest. 
Throughout  the  normal  career  the  latter  works 


302  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

with  the  former,  curbing  excess  and  imparting 
added  significance.  Indeed  the  ideal  consum- 
mation is  that  the  eternal  should  be  woven  into 
the  temporal,  such  dispositions,  affections,  as- 
pirations, and  habits  of  thought  being  devel- 
oped amid  present  engagements  as  must  be 
of  prime  value  always  and  in  any  world.  To 
use  the  Johannine  form  of  description,  the 
ideal  is  an  eternal  life  begun  in  the  present, 
a  life  born  from  above  as  respects  its  inner 
principle,  and  fitted  to  go  right  on  in  enlarg- 
ing beauty  and  strength  in  the  world  to  come. 
We  see,  then,  that  Christianity  judged  by 
the  full  sum  of  its  teaching,  is  truly  a  religion 
of  two  worlds.  It  harmonizes  respect  for  the 
present  with  a  due  contemplation  of  the  im- 
mortal life. 

VIII:     The  Granting  of  a  Large  Range  for  Con- 
tinuous Progress 

A  religion  which  annexes  to  its  underlying 
principles  a  great  number  of  specific  rules,  and 
stamps  these  as  being  of  divine  authority,  pre- 
pares for  itself  very  uncomfortable  and  in- 
jurious restrictions.  There  are  conditions  in 
the  civilization  of  one  age  which  are  not  re- 
peated in  that  of  another  age.  Accordingly 
a  detailed  set  of  rules  shaped  according  to  the 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  303 

conditions  prevailing  at  the  time  of  its  pro- 
mulgation is  likely  to  collide  at  one  point  or 
another  with  later  developments  of  an  ad- 
vancing civilization.  So,  for  example,  the 
Koran  was  made  to  give  its  sanction  to  fea- 
tures of  a  social  order  which  a  later  generation 
must  needs  challenge,  or  else  suffer  rebuke 
for  a  culpable  backwardness.  Christianity 
avoids  a  dilemma  of  this  sort,  as  being  rather 
a  religion  of  principles  than  of  specific  rules. 
Possibly  a  few  of  the  apostolic  prescriptions 
had  for  the  primitive  Christian  age  a  per- 
tinency which  does  not  belong  to  them  in  this 
century.  Such,  for  instance,  in  the  opinion 
of  many,  is  Paul's  injunction  respecting  the 
silence  of  women  in  the  churches,  an  injunction 
having  its  motive  very  largely  in  the  doubtful 
reputation  attaching  to  women  claiming  li- 
cense to  speak  in  public  in  the  contemporary 
Greek  communities.  But  such  prescriptions 
are  so  exceptional  and  of  such  subordinate  im- 
port that  they  furnish  no  appreciable  ground 
of  embarrassment,  except  on  a  plan  of  inter- 
pretation unduly  narrow  and  technical.  In 
case  of  the  particular  rule  adduced  from  Paul, 
it  is  enough  to  stress  his  broad  conception  of 
the  abrogation  of  artificial  distinctions  among 
those  who  belong  to  Christ.    Through  his  stal- 


304   THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

wart  assertion  of  that  conception  the  apostle 
himself  furnishes  ample  ground  for  the  modi- 
fication of  his  own  rule.  By  the  evidence  of 
history  Christianity  is  a  religion  for  every  age. 
Its  fundamental  principles  are  on  a  plane 
which  no  civilization  can  transcend,  and  it 
leaves  open  a  wide  field  for  the  application  of 
those  principles  to  any  conditions  which  may 
be  reached  in  the  course  of  human  progress. 

IX:     The  Ability  to  Meet  in  all  Essential  Respects 

the  Demands   of   tlie   Philosophical  Ideal 

of  Religion 

If  place  be  made  for  the  conviction  that 
revelation  furnishes  a  real  contribution  to  the 
knowledge  of  religious  verities,  it  follows  as  a 
matter  of  ready  inference  that  it  may  authen- 
ticate some  truths  which  philosophy  in  the  use 
of  its  own  resources  may  not  be  qualified  con- 
fidently to  affirm.  The  most  that  can  be  ex- 
pected of  a  philosophy  as  respects  harmonious 
relations  with  a  religion  is  that  the  former 
should  not  find  it  necessary  to  challenge  any 
of  the  characteristic  tenets  of  the  latter,  and 
should  be  able  heartily  to  approve  its  funda- 
mental views  of  God,  of  man,  and  of  the 
proper  interrelations  of  God  and  man. 

As   was   noticed,   in  the  revelation,   which 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  305 

serves  as  the  historical  basis  of  Christianity, 
such  views  are  suggested  on  the  transcendence 
of  God  as  are  quite  on  a  level  with  the  best  spec- 
ulative thought  of  any  age.  At  the  same  time 
a  very  emphatic  conception  of  the  immanence 
of  God  in  the  creaturely  universe  is  given  vivid 
expression  within  the  compass  of  the  biblical 
writings.  In  the  combination  of  the  two 
points  of  view  a  safeguard  is  provided  against 
the  impairment  of  the  religious  interest  by  the 
intrusion  of  either  deistic  or  pantheistic  no- 
tions. On  the  ethical  side  the  Christian  doc- 
trine of  God  is  in  like  manner  comprehensive 
and  complete.  Stressing  both  divine  right- 
eousness and  divine  love  to  the  utmost,  it  sup- 
plies the  necessary  basis  for  fostering  at  once 
the  sense  of  the  demerit  of  sin  and  a  salutary 
confidence  in  the  readiness  of  God  to  receive 
into  favor  and  fellowship  anyone  who  will 
make  earnest  suit  for  His  grace.  To  the  lofty 
views  inherited  from  the  ethical  monotheism 
of  the  Old  Testament  it  adds  the  unrivaled 
picture  of  paternal  goodness  which  was  native 
to  the  illuminated  consciousness  of  Jesus 
Christ.  In  short,  Christianity  puts  such  a  con- 
tent into  the  idea  of  God  that  it  is  not  possible 
to  imagine  any  real  ground  of  dissent  on  the 
part  of  a  wide-visioned  philosophy. 


306  THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

The  essential  aspects  of  the  Christian  view 
of  man  and  of  his  appropriate  relations  to  God 
in  like  manner  invite  philosophic  approval. 
As  a  mirror  of  human  nature  the  oracles 
of  Christianity  are  marvelously  efficacious. 
What  better  can  a  philosophy  that  takes  sober 
account  of  the  facts  of  human  history  do  than 
to  formulate  its  conclusions  in  line  with  the 
biblical  picture  of  man,  bringing  out  on  the 
one  hand  into  clear  light  the  things  that  make 
for  his  humiliation  and  shame,  and  on  the 
other  hand  the  things  which  testify  to  his 
greatness  and  glory?  What  better,  too,  can 
philosophy  do  than  to  accept  as  the  ideal  con- 
summation for  man  the  realization  of  a  spir- 
itual sonship,  begun  in  the  present  and  flower- 
ing in  perfection  through  the  endless  years 
of  an  immortal  life?  On  the  Christian  ideal 
of  either  God  or  man  genuine  philosophical 
thinking — we  have  good  ground  for  believ- 
ing— can  never  bring  any  shadow  of  a  dis- 
paraging judgment. 

As  regards  the  finality  of  Christianity,  it 
is  possible  to  urge  that  the  evidences  which 
have  been  presented  may  prove  the  pre- 
eminence of  this  religion  over  all  others  up  to 
date,  without  excluding  the  supposition  that  it 


THE  PREEMINENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  307 

may  yet  be  surpassed  and  superseded.  In  re- 
sponse to  this  objection  it  is  to  be  said,  in  the 
first  place,  that  rational  grounds  for  faith  in 
the  transcendent  sonship  of  Christ  are  rational 
grounds  for  faith  in  the  finality  of  the  religion 
to  which  He  is  central.  In  the  second  place 
it  can  be  contended  that  it  is  a  strange  mark 
of  discretion  to  be  anticipating  a  substitute  for 
a  religion  which  embraces,  as  does  Christian- 
ity, a  full  group  of  the  highest  conceivable 
excellences. 

While  sustaining  the  rightful  title  of  Chris- 
tianity to  universality,  we  have  not  found 
warrant  for  claiming  that  on  this  earthly  stage 
it  will  ever  actually  secure  complete  dominion. 
Men  are  won  to  be  true  subjects  of  religion 
only  with  their  free  consent,  and  persuasions, 
however  potent,  are  not  invincible.  What  can 
be  said  is,  that  it  is  rational  to  believe  that  in 
the  course  of  the  ages  a  glorious  ascendency 
will  accrue  to  Christianity.  Indeed,  vital  faith 
cannot  well  anticipate  anything  less.  It  is  un- 
der compulsion  to  look  forward  to  the  time 
when  the  Christ,  who  bore  so  fully  the  burden 
of  this  world's  sorrow  and  sin,  "shall  see  of  the 
travail  of  His  soul  and  be  satisfied." 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Advent,  the  second,  266  ff. 
Assurance  of  personal  sal- 
vation, 226  ff. 
Athanasius,  167. 
Augustine,  201,  211. 


B 


Bahaism,  283  f. 

Baptism,  254  f. 

Bible,  its  variety  and  bal- 
ance, 64  ff. ;  its  relation 
to  revelation,  68  f. ;  the 
question  of  its  iner- 
rancy, 72  ff. 

Bowne,  B.  P.,  129. 

Box,  G.  H.,  120. 

Brahmanism,  40  ff.,  293 
ff. 

Bruce,  A.  B.,  189. 

Buddhism,  32  ff.,  286,  291 
ff.,  296. 


Christ,  as  the  moral  ideal, 
79  ff . ;  as  teacher,  92  ff. ; 
as  redeemer,  102  ff. ;  as 
Lord,  112  ff. ;  as  super- 
naturally  conceived,  116 
ff. ;  as  a  subject  of  res- 
urrection, 121  ff. ;  His 
essential  relation  to 
the  Heavenly  Father, 
156  ff. 

Christianity,  the  proposi- 
tions which  enter  into 
the  proofs  of  its  claims 
to  universality  and  final- 
ity, 24  ff.;  list  of  evi- 
dences supporting  its 
claims,  282  ff. ;  fullness 
of  its  historical  basis,  51 
ff. 

Church,  236,  241  ff. 

Confucianism,  29  ff.,   296. 

Conscience,  187  ff,,  206  f. 


D 


Dalman,  G.,  118  f. 


Caird,  Edward,  57. 
Canon,  the  biblical,  77  f. 
Ceremonials,     the     proper 

rating  of,  251    ff. 
Charles,  R.  H.,  273. 


E 


Ethics,  profound  stress 
upon,  in  the  teaching  of 
Christ,    94    ff.,    294    ff.; 


311 


312 


INDEX 


Ethics,  constitutional  basis 

of,  187  ff. 
Eucharist,  the,  254  f. 
Evolution,  172  ff.,  190. 

F 

Faith,  216  ff. 

Filial  character,  208  f., 
297  f. 

Finality,  claim  of  Chris- 
tianity to,  282  ff. 

Fiske,  John,  18. 

Flesh,  in  the  biblical  esti- 
mate, 178  ff. 

Freedom,  195  ff. 


sis  for  its  affirmation  in 
the  Old  Testament,  58 
f.,  183;  the  demonstra- 
tion which  it  derives 
from  Christian  theism, 
181  ff. 


Jesus.     See  Christ. 
Jevons,  F.  B.,  20. 
Judgment,  the  final,  280  f. 
Justification,  223  f. 


God,  the  proofs  of  His  ex- 
istence, 126  ff. ;  elements 
of  a  high  view  of  Him 
in  the  Hebrew  Oracles> 
131  ff. ;  His  attributes, 
142;  His  fatherhood  in 
relation  to  men,  142  ff.; 
His  providence,  153  ff.; 
trinitarian  distinctions, 
163  ff. 

H 

Harnack,  A.,   120. 
Hinduism,  40  ff. 
Holy  Spirit,  the,  161  ff. 
Hopkins,  E.  W.,  46. 
Hume,  David,   129. 


Immanence,  the  divine,  167 

f.,  224,  293,  305. 
Immortality,    implicit    ba- 


Kingdom  of  God,  236  ff. 

L 

Ladd,  G.  T.,  20. 
Lao-tse,  31. 
Lessing,  G.  E.,  69  f. 
Lobstein,  P.,   119. 

M 

Macdonald,  D.  B.,  46  f. 

Man,  the  Genesis  narra- 
tives respecting,  and  the 
amount  of  significance 
to  be  attached  to  them, 
169  ff.;  estimate  of  the 
evolutionary  theory  of 
his  origin,  172  ff. ;  his 
dual  nature,  175  ff. ; 
rating  of  the  flesh  in 
him,  178  ff. ;  his  title  to 
immortality,  181  ff. ;  his 


INDEX 


313 


moral  outfit,  187  ff. ;  his 
endowment  with  free- 
dom, 195  ff. ;  his  actual 
condition  or  moral  sta- 
tus, 200  ff. 

Miracles,  tests  of  their 
credibility,  98  ff. 

Mohammedanism,  43  ff., 
283  f.,  286,  289  f. 

Morality.     See  Ethics. 

Miinsterberg,  H.,  192. 

Mystery  Religions,  the, 
285. 

o 

Obedience,  evangelical, 
221. 

Old  Testament,  its  contri- 
butions to  Christianity, 
282  ff. 

Orr,  James,  117. 


Philosophy  in  relation  to 
Christianity,  304  ff. 

Polity  of  the  Church,  258 
ff. 

Prayer,  151  ff.,  233. 

Premillennialism,  or  radi- 
cal Adventism,  266  ff. 

Prophecy,  Israelite,  as  his- 
torically conditioned,  56 
f. ;  as  contributory  to 
Christianity,  58  f. 

R 

Regeneration,  224  ff. 

Religion,  definition  of,  15; 
its  universality  and  ne- 
cessity, 16  ff. 

Repentance,  221. 

Resurrection,  of  Jesus,  121 
ff. ;  of  men  generally 
180  f.,  278  ff. 

Royce,  Josiah,  198. 


Palmer,  E.  H.,  45. 

Paul,  the  Apostle,  as  wit- 
ness to  the  resurrection 
of  Jesus,  121  f. ;  his  em- 
phasis on  the  divine  fa- 
therhood, 146;  his  con- 
ception of  the  first  man, 
171 ;  his  doctrine  of  "the 
flesh/'  178  ff.;  his  view 
of  man's  condition  by 
birth,  202;  his  teaching 
relative  to  predestina- 
tion, 213  ff. 

Pfleiderer,  Otto,  44. 


Salvation,  the  doctrine  of, 

206  ff. 
Sanctification,    aids    to   its 

effectuation,  229  ff. 
Sanday,  W.,  117. 
Schmiedel,  P.  W.,  119. 
Sidgwick,  H.,  188  f. 
Spirit,    Pauline    view    of, 

175  f. 
Spiritualism,     estimate     of 

its      alleged      messages, 

185  f. 
State,  the,  243,  246  ff. 
Statius,  21. 
Sufism,  46. 


314 


INDEX 


Theophilanthropists,  52. 
Thrift,   as    a   part   of   the 

Christian  ideal,  299  f. 
Toy,  C.  H.,  20. 
Trinity,    doctrine    of    the, 

163  ff. 
Tylor,  E.  B.,  19. 
Tyrrell,  George,  230. 

U 


claim     of     Christianity, 
282  ff. 


Van  Oosterzee,  83. 
Virgin  birth  of  Jesus,  116 

ff. 
Von  Soden,  EL,  158  f. 

W 

Ward,  James,  197. 
Weinel,  H.,  117. 
Williams,  Monier,  40. 


Universality,  as  expressive 

of    God's     saving     pur-  2 

pose,    210    ff.;    as    de- 
scriptive of  the  rightful      Zoroastrianism,  27  ff.,  290. 


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